Reese James: UEFA Champion is the starting point for Chelsea s revival

Recommendation Network May 28 Chelsea defender Reece James vowed to bring back the long-lost championship glory to the team, while coach Enzo Maresca worked hard to convince the players at the beginning of the season that Conference League is "the best event in the world."

Chelsea will compete with Real Betis for the UEFA Champions League in Wroclaw, Poland on Wednesday night, the Blues' first trophy to compete for the Club World Cup in early 2022. James missed the Club World Cup that year due to injury, but he won the Champions League with the team while coaching with Thomas Tuchel.

However, most of his teammates have not won any major championships for Chelsea, as most of the players have only joined the team since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the team in 2023.

After defeating Nottingham Forest on Sunday to secure a Champions League spot next season, Chelsea hopes to use the UEFA Champions League champion to bring Maresca's first season to a successful end. James believes that winning the UEFA United may open the team's future championship.

"We hope this will start a journey of winning streak." James said that this is also his first time as Chelsea captain. "We haven't won the championship trophy for a long time. From a longer-term perspective, I think this will bring the club a feeling of winning the championship again and help players who have not won too many titles in their careers."

Chelsea was expected to qualify for the Europa League by finishing sixth in the Premier League last season, but Manchester United unexpectedly won the FA Cup, leaving Chelsea only to participate in the Europa League. As the third-level club event in Europe, Chelsea has a huge financial advantage among the participating teams of Europa League, and they are also regarded as the favorites to win the championship. Maresca took advantage of the group stage opportunity to give the team's marginal players the chance to play.

However, the Italian coach has always emphasized that Chelsea will take the game seriously and that he has been sending the same message to the players.

"The most complicated thing about Europa League this season is probably to convince the players that for us, this is the best event in the world." Maresca explained, "The reason is simple, because we are in this event. So every game is difficult, especially I need to convince the players that we can't take it lightly because any team can grab points in the game, and we must respect every team in Europe and every opponent we face."