Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said on Monday that the high of winning the Champions League is addictive, urging his players to maintain the hunger needed to defend their title.
Chelsea kick off their Champions League campaign against Zenit Saint Petersburg at home on Tuesday after a strong start to the Premier League season.
Tuchel made an immediate impact after joining the club in January, transforming Chelsea from a mid-table Premier League team to a Champions League champion.
The German had reached the final with Paris Saint-Germain the year before, but admitted he underestimated the impact going one step further would have on his team.
“I reached a final with my team the previous season and felt like it was a big achievement, but not doing the last step is a huge difference when you realize what it means when you do it,” Tuchel said at his pre-match press conference.
“The most important thing is not to look back but to keep the hunger because that feeling creates a hunger for more and more.
[the_ad id=”2176″]“It’s highly addictive. This game is about winning because winning changes your feelings, your work environment in the building, and gives you natural confidence.”
Chelsea are second in the Premier League with 10 points from their first four games and are strong favorites to win Group H, which includes Russian champions Zenit, Swedish title holders Malmo, and a Juventus side that is struggling without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Tuchel, on the other hand, cautioned against basking in the glory of their 1-0 victory over Manchester City in last season’s final in Porto.
“It is absolutely necessary to forget it and start over, to demonstrate this mentality once more. This is what I expect of myself and everyone else, that we do not change in terms of hunger,” he said.
“We will have this experience together forever and can form a bond as a result of it, but in sport, it is about looking ahead and taking on the challenges that are coming, and the next one is tomorrow.”
[the_ad id=”2176″]Due to injuries, N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic will miss the Zenit match, although Ben Chilwell might play for the first time since May.
Chilwell was a member of England’s Euro 2020 team but did not play and had to spend the entire tournament in self-isolation.
Tuchel stated that the left-back returned to pre-season “mentally fatigued,” but that he is now “in the race” to replace Marcos Alonso in the starting lineup.
