Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso addressed the club's European prospects during his debut season. He said: "The ambition is to be back there".
Chelsea's league position
Chelsea sit fourth in the Premier League with 16 points from their opening nine matches. The club's current campaign has no European commitments, and Chelsea were due to face Sunderland.
The return to Europe
On Chelsea's official website, Alonso said: "to be just one season that we are having long weeks. The aim, the desire, the hunger is to have busy weeks, to have to deal with three games a week, and that we'll see each other much more."
He said: "We want to be playing in Europe, in big stadiums, having top teams in Europe because I think that we can be there, but we need to earn it to be there".
Alonso added: "We like football and, unfortunately, we can only comment. The feeling is that we want to be there, but we need to deserve that."
The lack of football
Discussing the lack of football, Alonso said: "It's not that it hurts now, because you deal with it, but this is where we want to be"
Alonso's Champions League experience
Alonso has 119 appearances in the Champions League. He won two Champions League titles as a player.
