Chelsea start their Europa League campaign against PAOK Salonika and will face Bate Borisov and Videoton in the competition.
Not playing in the Champions League is a big blow for us. However, our last sojourn in this competition saw us becoming champions.
The Blues came third in their Champions League group and had to beat Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan and Basel before reaching the final against Benfica.
It was an epic encounter and the Blues decided to remind the fans by posting a tweet.
Fernando Torres had given us the lead in the 60th minute before Oscar Cardozo levelled from the penalty spot.
One day to go! 🙌
Here’s what our last goal in the Europa League looked like… 🏆 pic.twitter.com/tBML4yKuDE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 19, 2018
It seemed like Rafa Benitez’s men would have to face extra time and penalties but Branislav Ivanovic came up with a stoppage-time winner for the Blues.
This was our first Europa League title and certainly a great way to cap off a season that didn’t go as planned.
Chelsea should start as one of the favourites for the title but Maurizio Sarri must use the tournament to play some of our youngsters.
The Europa League winners will qualify for the Champions League next season and that should prompt us to give it our all.
Read more: Five things we learned from Chelsea v Cardiff
Chelsea have started the season with five wins out of five and we should make light work of our Europa League group too.
