Chelsea vs Juventus preview - `Lucky' Chelsea out to defend their title

Posted Wednesday, September 19, 2012 by PA

John Obi Mikel admitted Chelsea were "kind of lucky" to win the Champions League but insisted they now had a team capable of historic back-to-back triumphs.

The Blues kick off the defence of their European crown, with many still pinching themselves at the manner in which they finally ended their agonising wait for club football's biggest prize.

Chelsea's astonishing run has led some to dismiss their triumph as being down to nothing more than blind luck, with Liverpool legend Graeme Souness declaring: "Nobody in the history of football has ever had that much luck."

Mikel, who was crucial to their success after playing every minute from the quarter-finals onwards, said: "When people say that, sometimes it's actually not true.

"I think we worked very hard for what we achieved last season.

"But, at the same time, you need luck in everything you do.

"So, yeah, we were kind of lucky but, this season, it's a different story altogether.

"We brought in new players that are going to help us in this campaign.

"So, hopefully this season, we can play good football and win games.

"And hopefully, we can go very, very far in this tournament - hopefully get to the final again."

Manager Roberto Di Matteo, whose appointment as caretaker was the catalyst for a sensational turnaround in Chelsea's fortunes back in March, shrugged off being branded "lucky".

"They said the same about many other managers when they won," he said.

"You need to deserve everything you get, and I think we worked very hard for it. We prepared ourselves very well against our opposition.

"It can't just be that [luck].

"You might need, and you will need, a portion of luck during a competition like this. But every team has it to be able to achieve the final target to win it.

"That's a minor part of it."

Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the match.

Juan Mata has returned to the fold after being given a complete rest from the start of the international break.

Meanwhile, Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon has declared the Blues' Champions League triumph proved anything was possible in football as he played down his own side's lack of experience in the competition.

Juve return to Europe's premier club competition for the first time since 2009.

It will also be only the third Champions League in seven seasons for the Turin giants, who used to take a place in the competition for granted until the Italian match-fixing scandal consigned them to the wilderness.

But they arrived in London on an incredible 42-game unbeaten run in Serie A, having not lost a single match on their way to last season's title.

And goalkeeper Buffon insisted his team-mates had already proven they were big game players for both club and country.

The Italy star said: "Before Chelsea won the Champions League, in the previous years, they were always the team to beat and they always failed.

"And then, when they started struggling, when they were in a declining phase, that's when they actually won the Champions League.

"What's beautiful about football is that it's not always the team that's considered the stronger one that's actually going to win."

The 34-year-old, who has seen it all at Juve since joining them 11 years ago, added: "Obviously, we're an emerging team at the moment.

"We've got many young players but they're all coming up strongly.

"It's a team that's got a great future and, regardless of the fact that you definitely need experience in the Champions League, we also take into consideration that many of our players have also played international games with their national squad and they've got experience, confidence, and I think you can probably put on the same level playing international games with playing in the Champions League.

"So, in that respect, we think we're at a very good point at the moment."