Luiz: Chelsea want to win Europa League

6 Dec 2012 09:15:00

The 25-year-old defender could not hide his disappointment after falling at the first hurdle as the club sought to defend its European title, but is still eyeing silverware

Chelsea defender David Luiz says he will do all he can to try and win the Europa League this season after the Blues were dumped out of the Champions League.

Despite hammering Nordsjaelland 6-1 at home, Chelsea failed to qualify for the knock-out stages, after they finished third in their group behind Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk.

The result means the Blues become the first-ever reigning champions to crash out at the initial hurdle, but the Brazilian believes that playing in Europe's second-tier tournament is no punishment as they still retain the chance of winning more silverware.

"I look now at the Europa League like the Champions League. It’s glamorous for me because I don’t have this title, so I want to win it," Luiz told reporters.

"We won the Champions League last season and this season we went out in the group, it’s a little bit sad but at the end of the day we’re looking at another competition for the future."

Team-mate Cesar Azpilicueta echoed his thoughts by claiming that the Europa League still represents a trophy of some stature and pedigree and that the side will do their best to try and win it this term.

He said: "It’s true that it is not the Champions League but it’s a big trophy in Europe. Everyone wants to win and we need to keep our ambition to win this trophy.

"We have qualified for this tournament so we are going to win games and going to [try to] win the trophy."