Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole has revealed why manager Frank Lampard will be delighted with the Blues’ Champions League group stage draw.
While we have actually been handed, on paper, one of the tougher draws out of all the English sides, there is an undeniable bonus of facing the teams which we will be coming up against.
Especially with our Europa League campaign fresh in the memory, our players will have been desperate to avoid midweek trips to the furthest corners of Europe.
Thankfully for us, they have. Cole has now been quoted by the Metro revealing his belief that Lampard will be delighted with the draw that he has been handed this term:
“If you look at the teams it’s difficult but I think what Frank will be happy about is that Amsterdam and Lille is close, it’s not going to be massive travel.
I don’t think Chelsea’s priority this year is the Champions League, I think it’s get out of the group stage and see what happens. I think he’s going to be quite happy. You don’t want to be having five, six, seven hour flights, so I think the games we’ve got he will be reasonably happy with.”
Ultimately, we just want to progress through the group stage, but there can be no denying that it will do us favours in terms of avoiding fatigue to have short trips on the calendar.
Manchester United, who will be playing on Thursdays, haven’t been so fortunate…