Mikel stresses Chelsea belief

Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel believes his team have what it takes to defend their Champions League crown.

The Blues claimed an unlikely victory in Europe’s premier club competition last season, defeating favourites Barcelona before edging out Bayern Munich in the final.

“It was good to win the trophy as some players were leaving, but we want to build on it, we don’t want to stop,” Mikel told reporters.

“We train every day trying to improve, we’re still hungry and still want to win more, we want to add to what we’ve won.

“Nothing changes, hopefully we can build on it, tomorrow is the start and we want to make sure we go far.

“I’ve watched the final once, we’ve won it but we don’t want to keep looking back at it, now we have to move on.”

Ahead of his side’s opening group stage clash with Juventus on Wednesday, the 25-year-old also conceded that the pressure is on Chelsea this year given their status as defending champions.

“Being champions adds pressure, but we have a lot of good, senior players to deal with that, we live with pressure every day,” Mikel said.

“In everything you do, you need luck, but it wasn’t luck which saw us through, we worked very hard, we beat Barca with 10 men.”

The Nigeria international went on to reveal his admiration for Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

“Pirlo is a great player, everyone saw what he did in the Euros. He’s a legend, playing against him will be great and a battle,” Mikel said.