Glenn Hoddle believes Chelsea are bigger Champions League contenders than Real Madrid and Barcelona
Chelsea secured top spot in their UEFA Champions League group following their 4-0 hammering of Sevilla on their own turf. England legend Glenn Hoddle has seen enough to tip the Premier League side to go far in the competition.
Olivier Giroud was the star of the show, weighing in with all four goals. The Blues decimated the LaLiga side, with the France international becoming the oldest player to score a UEFA Champions League hat-trick in the process.
Both sides played out a goalless draw in their first-leg clash at Stamford Bridge, but the matchday 5 clash at the Sanchez Pizjuan was a straight battle for who topped Group E.
Despite fielding a relatively weaker side, Chelsea did enough to get the job done and were totally dominant against Sevilla at a venue famed for being a fortress.
The manner in which the West London side controlled proceedings for 90 minutes was a statement of intent about their ambitions. Having previously struggled at the start of the campaign, Chelsea are slowly becoming one of the most formidable sides on the continent.
Frank Lampard oversaw a summer spending spree that saw the club spend in excess of £200m to strengthen the squad. After an initial period of adaptation, most of the summer recruits have started performing at an optimum.
It is in defense that Chelsea have shown the most improvement, with new goalkeeper Edouard Mendy proving to be an instant hit, while fellow new boys Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell have also provided stability.
Glen Hoddle gives his verdict on Chelsea
The last few years have been ones of inconsistency from Chelsea. Despite regularly dominating the continent in the first decade of the millennium, the Blues have fallen on hard times in recent years.
They have made it to the semifinal of the Champions League just once since their incredible triumph in 2012, while they did not even secure a top-four finish on two occasions in that period.
Despite this, Glenn Hoddle believes that the current squad Frank Lampard has is better than what is on offer at heavyweights like Barcelona and Real Madrid and opined that the club should be aiming for a last-four appearance.
Speaking to BT Sports, he said:
''Looking at the teams that are there, obviously Liverpool and Manchester City, they are going to be there and or there abouts."
''For City it's their No 1 priority whether they tell you that or not, they want to win the Champions League."
''You can't look past Bayern Munich because they are so powerful but you have got to put Chelsea up there. For me at this moment, they are above Barcelona and above Real Madrid."
''They are two massive clubs but Chelsea's team is better than theirs."
''In this moment in time I think they have got to be looking at at least the semi-final and you get to a semi-final, anything can happen."
''And they have international players who are going to get better as the season goes and if the crowds are full and we are back to full houses - we haven't seen this Chelsea side inspired by a crowd and the bigger the occasion the better the best players are."
''There is more to come from Chelsea.''
After securing top spot in the UEFA Champions League, Chelsea will turn their attention to the Premier League this weekend, where they host Leeds United.