Cesar Azpilicueta sends strong message to Chelsea squad over Champions League chances

Cesar Azpilicueta has told his Chelsea teammates to be at their ‘best level’ if they want to progress into the Champions League knockout stages. 

The 33-year-old started against FC Salzburg on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge and was caught in the box for the visitors’ equaliser when Noah Okafor got ahead of the Spaniard to slot past Kepa Arrizabalaga in the 75th minute. 

Chelsea were forced to settle for a point, leaving them bottom of Group E on just one point following the defeat to Dinamo Zagreb last week. 

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Graham Potter’s side now have it all to do in their next two games against AC Milan, a double header with the first in west London, and two defeats would see them all but out of contention to qualify out of Group E in the Champions League.

Azpilicueta insists Chelsea will work hard to turn it around knowing it’s still in their hands to progress. 

Speaking to the official Chelsea website, Azpilicueta said: “After losing the first game (against Dinamo Zagreb) we were in a tough position and now it is a bit worse.

"But it is still in our hands and now we work hard and with a change of manager of course, we try to adapt as quickly as possible to get ideas and to affect them on the pitch.

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“We play two games in a row against Milan and we have to be at our best level if we want to get the results and to go into the next stage.”

He added: “Of course we are disappointed with the result (drawing to Salzburg) but I think there are as well a lot of positives to take. 

“We will keep working hard now we have an international break and we then have a run coming with a lot of games every three days, and we have to be ready for it.

“The manager has made very clear what he wanted from the players individually and as a team and we have to keep working.

Azpilicueta was full of praise for Raheem Sterling after he opened the scoring and scored the first goal of the Potter era.

The Chelsea skipper concluded: "Raheem is an amazing player when playing wide and creating one-against-one chances and it was an amazing goal.

"We tried to build from the back, get the spaces, get the midfield players into positions and for a moment we had good control of the game, for others not that good, but that is where we are and we have to analyse and be humble."