Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Cahill hopes Blues avoid Barca and PSG in draw
CAPTAIN Gary Cahill has admitted Chelsea would rather avoid Barcelona and Paris St Germain in the first knock-out round of the Champions League.
Chelsea drew 1-1 with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night to relinquish the lead in Group C and finish as runners-up to Roma.
It means they will be drawn against a winner of another group in Monday’s last-16 draw and, as Uefa regulations prohibit teams from the same nation facing each other in the first knockout round, Lionel Messi’s Barca and Neymar’s PSG are among the few possible opponents.
Boss Antonio Conte and playmaker Eden Hazard appeared to welcome the prospect but Cahill insisted his preference would be for such ties to come later in the competition.
“To get to and win the final, of course we have to beat the best teams,” Cahill said.
“But let’s not lie as well, let’s hope we dodge them and progress.
“You expect to see the very, very big teams later on. At this stage of the competition, those that qualify are top teams — you can’t dodge anyone too much — but I hope the draw is a good one for us.”
Cahill won the European Cup in 2012 with Chelsea, who remain the most recent English team to make the final. The Blues became the first holders to exit at the group stage the following season, responding to win the 2013 Europa League.
They won three straight group stages before exiting the competition to Atletico and PSG (twice) and were not in Europe in 2016-17.