Chelsea legend Joe Cole believes his former club can win the Champions League this season, despite their recent struggles under Graham Potter.
The Blues are 10th in the Premier League with have managed just two wins in their last 13 matches ahead of the first leg of their last-16 tie away at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
Dortmund, meanwhile, welcome the Blues to the 81,000 Signal Iduna Park after a six-game winning run since the World Cup.
But Cole, who played over 250 times for Chelsea during seven years at Stamford Bridge, believes the Blues can spring a surprise in Europe after winning the competition in 2021.
“It’s definitely possible,” BT Sport pundit Cole told Standard Sport. “Chelsea have a chance, that’s 100 percent for sure.
“It’s the pinnacle of European club football to climb that mountain. It will be welcome for the players to have it in the back of their minds like a welcome distraction.
“It could also be the one big performance in a big game to turn the confidence.”
Many Chelsea supporters will not feel so confident, having grown frustrated with the form of the team under Potter.
There is, however, no suggestion from inside the club that Potter could be sacked and he retains the support of the Chelsea board.
Having travelled with the owners on the club’s pre-season tour in the United States over the summer, Cole got an understanding of the plan and urges supporters to remain patient.
He added: “Chelsea supporters might have to get used to growing more sustainably and organically, but I feel they have put the foundations in.
“You need not just great players but there needs to be something built and nurtured underneath. That seems to be the route Chelsea are going down and it is what Graham Potter has done throughout his career.
“It is something Chelsea supporters will have to get used to. We’ve slipped so far behind Man City, in particular, from the change of managers and players that we need something more.”
Part of the reason Chelsea have struggled is a combination of injuries the amount of new signings settling.
After leaving out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and others from their 25-man Champions League squad, Cole admits that Potter struggles through the problems of a bloated squad.
“If they don’t get selected, it will be on them to respect the club that pays your wages, train well and drive the standard,” he concluded.
“If people do that, it will be very, very easy. Training will be good, the standard will be higher. It will be diamonds sharpening other diamonds and they will be getting better.
“Players on the periphery one day could play a vital game in a Champions League final or a match for top four at the end of the season. You have to be ready.”
