Ben Chilwell may have won the Champions League – but he has declared that Carabao Cup glory would be a bigger achievement for Chelsea.
The 27-year-old started in the 2021 Champions League final, where the Blues shocked Manchester City to cement himself as a club legend.
However the club have struggled for consistency in the previous two seasons having undergone a huge transformation since their £4.25billion takeover in 2022.
With Reece James injured, the 19-cap England international will skipper the west Londoners in Sunday’s final at Wembley against Premier League leaders Liverpool – live on talkSPORT.
And Chilwell has sensationally claimed that victory will mean more than scooping club football’s biggest prize.
The ex-Leicester left-back said: “The prestige of the Champions League is obviously higher, but I’d say this is arguably more important in terms of where the club is now.
“With the group we have now, obviously such a young group, such a new group together, where there has been ups and downs this season.
“To get this one as a team and as a staff and with the fans, it would be massive for the club and arguably would be bigger than the Champions League, not in prestige.
“But in the way we want the club to go and the direction we want the club to go.”
Chelsea have struggled against Jurgen Klopp‘s side of late, with their last victory against the Merseyside outfit coming in May 2021.
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Since then, they have lost in both the Carabao and FA Cup final, with Liverpool prevailing on penalties in both tournaments in 2022.
And in the recent meeting between the two clubs last month, the Reds eased to a 4-1 win at Anfield.
Chilwell has insisted that he and his teammates are out for revenge as Mauricio Pochettino looks to win his first trophy in English football.
He remarked: “This is massive for many reasons. The opposition, firstly, and the fact we’ve lost to them twice in two cup finals.
“We want to get revenge. Secondly, it’s a major trophy. Everyone wants to win major trophies. It’s a cup final at Wembley.
“For me it doesn’t get much bigger than a cup final at Wembley.
“Then for the team in general if we can get that first trophy as a team it can give us the confidence, drive and hunger to get more.”
As well as two cup final defeats to Liverpool, Chilwell also lost in the 2021 FA Cup to former employers Foxes courtesy of Youri Tielemans’ stunning effort.
And he was also a part of the Three Lions’s squad that lost to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at the Home of Football.
For Chilwell’s sake, he is desperate to finally scoop gold at Wembley, and with Chelsea sitting in tenth spot, victory against Liverpool would secure Europa Conference League football.
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In what would be the cherry on top for Chilwell, he stated: “Everyone wants to be involved in European football.
“With the young team we have now a lot of players haven’t played European football.
“It’s another step to growing as a team and experience not just playing in Europe but also the experience in playing 50-55 games a season, which we want to be doing.
“The main focus on Sunday is to win and then the silver lining of that win is we get European football as well.”
