Reece James said Chelsea would make their Champions League return confident they were capable of competing with the best teams in the world.
Enzo Maresca’s young side are back at Europe’s top table after a two-year absence and face a stern test when they open the league phase by facing Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. Yet James is not worried about Chelsea’s lack of experience and accepts that July’s triumph in the Club World Cup means they are contenders to become European champions.
“It’s still early,” Chelsea’s captain said. “I have no doubts in the club and the team’s ability to go on to compete against the best teams in Europe and the world. We will take that week by week, game by game, and see where we’ve gone at the end of the season.”
James is not short of experience at this level. He recalled suffering against Bayern when the Bundesliga side beat Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate in the last 16 five years ago.
“You learn more when you don’t come out on top,” the right-back said. “I played against these in 2020 and they destroyed us. Days like that we learn a lot and nights like that will help me go into tomorrow’s game.”
Ben Chilwell’s departure to Strasbourg this month has left James as the last surviving member of the team that won the Champions League in 2021. “The club’s had lots of change,” James said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a bad thing. Last season we qualified for this competition and we went on to achieve two trophies. We’ve come on.”
James said he was surprised that Chelsea have loaned Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich. The striker is available to face his parent club. “I didn’t expect him to go,” James said. “I think the player wanted a solution and the club wanted a solution. I’m not sure how the whole situation came about but he’s an amazing player.”
Maresca said Jackson could give Vincent Kompany, Bayern’s manager, tips about Chelsea’s tactics. “It probably can be a small advantage because he can ask Nicolas the way we work, the way we try to prepare a game,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “Nicolas was with us for one entire season so he knows exactly the way we approach games.”
Maresca, who hopes Cole Palmer will be fit to start after shaking off a groin injury, shrugged off claims that his relationship with Jackson worsened before the 24-year-old’s departure. “I didn’t have any kind of problem with Nicolas and I don’t have any problem with Nicolas,” he said. “Again, he is a good guy, good professional, works well with us and that’s it.”
