Former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf has torn into the Europe Conference League saying he doesn’t care about it and hopes the Blues will consider it a “backup.”
Having missed out on Europe all together last season, Chelsea secured a top six finish and what they thought would be Europa League football.
However, Manchester United’s FA Cup success relegated the Blues to the Europa Conference League, a competition the club have never played in before.
Leboeuf reveals true feelings about the Europa Conference League
With Uefa competitions under a new format for this season Chelsea had to navigate a two legged play-off against Swiss side Servette in order to progress to the league format.
The Blues were made to work hard and snuck through 3-2 on aggregate despite losing the second leg 2-1 last Thursday.
Chelsea are comfortably the biggest team and arguably the best side in the competition, but it feels like it’s a situation the club can’t win from as if they win that’s what they are expected to do and if they don’t then they will be heavily criticised.
Former Chelsea star Leboeuf has made his thoughts on the competition perfectly clear and said from a Chelsea perspective he doesn’t take it seriously.
“Do I take the Conference League seriously? No, I don’t care,” he told ESPN.
“I hope they (Chelsea) will consider it a backup and they will do very well in the Premier League. But they have so much to think about.”
Whatever views people have on the competition it does present Enzo Maresca with a really good opportunity to win a trophy in his first season in charge, and will also provide the opportunity for players who may not be regulars in the Premier League to get much needed minutes.
Chelsea’s first fixture in the new league format will be against Belgian side Gent at Stamford Bridge on October 3rd.
