Chelsea coach wants to win the Champions League
"We will try to win the Champions League, like the other seven clubs. Of course, you can always lose in the quarter-finals because that's the nature of the Champions League," Potter said on March 17 at a press conference before the match. Everton in round 28 of the English Premier League.
The British coach said that the whole team was excited with the draw results, but only focused on the match against Real when the match day approached. "At the moment, we are focused on the Everton game, because it is tomorrow's game, and other things are far from coming," he said.
According to the draw results on the afternoon of March 17, Chelsea will play Real in the quarterfinals, and in the same semi-finals with the pair of Man City and Bayern. This is the third consecutive season Chelsea have met Real in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
In the semi-finals of the 2020-2021 season, Chelsea drew Real 1-1 at the Bernabeu and then won 2-0 in the rematch at Stamford Bridge, before defeating Man City 1-0 in the final. Last season, Real claimed debt when defeating Chelsea with a total score of 5-4 in the quarterfinals in the championship journey. Both seasons, Chelsea have played under Thomas Tuchel - the potential of Potter.
When he was managing Brighton, Potter faced current Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, when he was in charge at Everton from 2019-2021. Potter has great respect and admiration for the fact that his Italian colleague has won the Champions League many times in 20 years. Specifically, Ancelotti led AC Milan to win the 2003 and 2007 championship before taking the throne with Real for the 2021-2022 season.
After drawing and losing in February, Chelsea relieved the pressure when winning the last three matches, respectively against Leicester 3-1, Leeds 1-0 in the Premier League and Dortmund 2-0 in the second leg of the 1/8 round. Champions League. "Sometimes in football you don't get rewarded, sometimes you have to go on and fight through the storm, and there's bound to be a storm for a while," Potter said. "We've weathered that storm with three wins, but we need to move on. We're not asking for sympathy or pity, but it's a stressful job because emotions are important in football. ".
Potter praised his colleague Sean Dyche for helping Everton transform and get out of the red light group after only two months of work. The 47-year-old coach also refused to say where Chelsea would finish the Premier League, but only focused on each match.
Before knowing the draw results on March 17, Potter also mentioned the goal of winning the Champions League at a Chelsea event on March 15. "We're going to try to beat Everton, get the Champions League draw and try to win that damn league," he replied when asked about his goal with Chelsea.
Potter's answer then made many people in the audience laugh, mixed with excited cheers. The online event between Potter and fans on March 15 attracted 100,000 viewers on Twitter in 30 minutes.
Chelsea appointed Potter in September 2022, replacing Thomas Tuchel. The former Brighton coach had a difficult start at the new club. In the January transfer window, Chelsea spent up to $ 398 million to strengthen the squad, but only won one of the first nine matches in 2023.
The series of poor performances put Potter in danger of being fired. The British press speculated that the Stamford Bridge team had targeted two famous coaches, Zinedine Zidane or Luis Enrique, to replace them. However, Potter is still supported by his boss Todd Boehly. Recently, he helped Chelsea win three consecutive matches in all competitions, including defeating Dortmund 2-0 in the second leg of the 1/8 Champions League round, thereby reaching the quarterfinals, and reaching 10th in the Premier League with 37 points. over 26 games.
