Even though the Blues have just come off the back of an emphatic 4-0 victory over FC Nordsjaelland in the Champions League, Roberto Di Matteo has announced that it will still be difficult for the club to progress to the latter stages of the tournament.

While a lot of people will point to the score line and insist it was an easy win for Chelsea, those who watched the game will certainly disagree after opponents FC Nordsjaelland put up a spirited fight. It took three goals in eleven minutes to polish off the score line and even though the club now sit top of Group E after collecting four points from the opening two games, Di Matteo says that the nature of the Champions League means it will still be hard to progress.

He said, “It just shows exactly what I thought about the group. The Ukrainian champions are a very good team, and it’s going to be hard for us to qualify. It was important to win [against Nordsjaelland]. The score line shows four goals scored and none conceded, so that’s pleasing. There are no pushovers in the Champions League – look at Bayern [Munich] losing, and [Manchester] United having to come back.”

However, even though Di Matteo may have reservations about progression to the latter stages, few people can doubt that the club look a completely different outfit to the one that took to the group stages last term. It was then that the Blues didn’t win one single game on the road and following this comprehensive victory, there at least appear to be signs of massive improvement in this department.

The victory means that the Blues lead both the Premier League and their Champions League group, which certainly isn’t a bad achievement considering that it’s clear the club are not yet at their best.