Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic has admitted that the Blues' disappointing 2020 FA Cup final defeat at the hands of Arsenal helped propel them to European glory last term.
The Gunners were victorious 12 months ago when the two London clubs met in the Wembley showpiece, with goals from Gabon frontman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cancelling out Pulisic's early opener.
However, the two sides endured vastly different fates last season as Arsenal finished the campaign in eighth place, without any silverware, whilst Chelsea finished in the top four before clinching their second UEFA Champions League trophy thanks to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City at the Estadio do Dragao in May.
Their European success came as a surprise to many, including Pulisic himself, who claimed that their aforementioned loss to Mikel Arteta's side, along with their defeat to Leicester City in the 2021 FA Cup final, spurred them on to avoid tasting defeat in the clash with City.
"The end of the [2020/21] season is just a time I'll never forget," he told CBS Sports. "I mean, halfway through the season if you were to tell [the Chelsea squad] that we're winning the Champions League it would have been hard to believe.
"But the work that we put in, the change in the team and how we all came together, it meant so much more at the end of the season. It was just something that we'll share with each other forever.
"It was such a special experience and then right after that to then go with the national team and getting my first trophy with them was also just incredible.
"There were finals that [Chelsea] lost the last couple of years and that makes you want to not want that feeling anymore. And now winning, it's definitely an addictive feeling. And that's exactly what we want to go after again.
"We just want to continue to win titles."
