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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dom Smith

Frank Onyeka backs Brentford to secure European football as he reveals Champions League dream

Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka says the Bees are aiming to qualify for Europe this season.

Thomas Frank’s side finished ninth in the Premier League last season, and were three points away from nicking seventh spot above Aston Villa and reaching Europe for the first time in their history by qualifying for the Europa Conference League.

Brentford sit 14th this season ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Chelsea, yet Nigerian international Onyeka, who previously played in the Champions League with Danish side FC Midtjylland, believes the Bees will rise up the league over the course of the campaign.

“I'd love to play Champions League again," he told LiveScore. “And I think, as a club, we can play in Europe. I think that's what we aim for as well. So it would be nice to play Champions League with Brentford.

“How long do I think that will take? I don't know. But we'll see.”

Brentford beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in April but there have been signs of improvement in recent weeks from Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

“We know how good they are," Onyeka said of Chelsea. “They have some really good, quality players. But we always believe we can go to every ground to come up with the win and I think that's what we're going there to do as well.

“We like playing against the big teams. We need to be on top to get a good result because we're going to get punished if we lack anything.”

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