The Europa League final, no doubt something we can all be happy to be participants in. We’ve beaten Steaua București in the round of 16 – unconvincingly as it may be – and qualified to the Quarter-Final where we faced Rubin Kazan slightly edging them off in what was one of our worst performances in the second leg in the Benitez era – and that’s saying a lot. But nonetheless, we managed to qualify and went up to face the side that some would say humiliated Tottenham: Basel. While they did give us a challenge in the first leg, we truly did annihilate them in the second leg completing our deserved route to the Europa League final. This leaves us at his question: Can it really be considered an achievement?
I asked this question earlier on Twitter and the overwhelming response was that it should not be considered and achievement reaching the Europa League final seeing that the only reason Chelsea are in the competition is because of our failure to qualify from the group stages – something Chelsea have consistently done over the past nine seasons.
And I have to agree. Our presence in the Europa League should only serve as a reminder of our inability to be in the knockout stages. Instead of remembering it as an achievement, we should remember it as a hallmark of our failure in the Champions League. For a big club like Chelsea – Que Liverpool fans saying we aren’t a big club – being in the Champions League consistently and qualifying into the knockout rounds is integral for our development as a European powerhouse. Being in the Europa League hinders our development and our perception as a big European club.
That’s not to say winning the Europa League would not be something to celebrate. It’s to say that winning it should only serve to remind us of where the fans’ hearts and the players’ duties truly are: The Champions League.
Being in the final should not be considered as an achievement in my opinion. It should however serve as something to encourage the players to never be in that position again,and to strive and fight in order to qualify for the Champions League – which I believe we are doing now – and qualifying in the Quarter and Semi-finals as we always have.
Being in Europa League Final may not be considered big achievement but half bread is better than none.If Chelsea is able to lift the cup it will serve as warnining to opposing teams that they are not finished in Europe.This is axactly why we fans want Chelsea to win it.
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i totaly DISagree with you! Infact u seem to forget how bad this season was for us and how worse it cud hve been! Winning europa means 1. Becoming only the 4th team in europe to win all european club competitions 2. Becoming the 1st club in england to win all european club cups 3. Doin it wit a new squad, playing a new style with new players. This squad is not the finished product and we wer never goin to go really far in th CL! Remember Oscar is playing only his 2nd professional football season, 1st in europe, 1st in england. Hazard 1st season in england, Moses 1st season in the CL, Azpilicueta 1st season in england, Mata only 2nd season, Demba hasnt even completed 4 mnths wit the team and u expected us to beat teams who hve players who hve been playing 2gether for 5+yrs?!! Thts ridiculous! Winning europa with a young team that are still gettn to know eachother is a great starts and a good damn achievement and u shud be more patient with the squad its stead off trying to jump for success on the 1st huddle!
I disagree wiyh you.. We are in a transition period. And like most Chelsea fans you are expecting too much.. At the start of the season I had stated that we should only look for a top four finish this season. Anything more is welcome. So we are finishing in the top four and might end up wining the Europa league which obviously is an achievement. Thats really good considering how new our team is, change of managers and playing style.
Let’s get to understand that transfer of many players in a little space of time can upset the flow in the team.Looking at Man Utd,they hav been together 4 long and i can’t expect them to have the same problem as that of Chelsea.This has got to tell us that much should not be expected from this lads at the outset.Again,i want to point out that Chelsea squad have got quality and talent but lack experience and winning mentality to win such games as against the likes of Juve,R Madrid and Bayern this session.So,Winning Europa to me is great achievement to this present squad as it has afford they the playing time this session to gel together which have been evident.Next session will be a different story altogether.
To be knocked out of the Champions league and then going all the way… Would be good enough for a transition season where so much has passed by. Yeah it would be a consolation achievement and then the Super Cup next season. Besides the little pleasure of being the first club to lift two European cups in succession.
nice one buddy.
keep it up. Because it’s blue, what else
I agree wth joe i m happy wth da performance chelsea put in i wont say dat i m nt sad abt departure from UCL bt to be honest like joe sd i ddnt see us winning i mean look at bayern 7-0 barca i mean we play lyk barca and havnt reached dat level yet so cnt evn imagine hw it wld hav been bt m happy dat we hav a trophy along wth da tym to build up
Hello look how we worked,prayed and wished we would win at least a trophy and you are saying it is not big.KTBFFH
Date: Tue, 7 May 2013 14:42:11 +0000
To: jordantanzn@hotmail.com