Monday 25 May 2015 08:26, UK
Chelsea’s players were finally able to get their hands on the Premier League trophy following their 3-1 win over Sunderland on Sunday, three weeks after securing the title.
After another punishing, but ultimately rewarding, 10-month season, the squad were given their medals and awarded the trophy before celebrating in front of the Stamford Bridge faithful.
“It’s felt great for a couple of weeks now but to have it in your hands, I think it’s a magical moment and hopefully it is the first of many,” said Cesc Fabregas.
“To have it in your hands, to celebrate with all your team-mates, with the staff, with the fans, it’s unbelievable.”
While the title was Fabregas’ first in England, he had La Liga success with Barcelona in 2012-13. For Gary Cahill though, it was his first experience of winning a league crown.
“It’s amazing. For the short period that I’ve been at this club, three-and-a-half years, to win what I’ve won is tremendous,” the defender said.
“This was the one that I’d not won before, I’ve been playing in the Premier League for a while now and I realise how hard it is to win this. It feels amazing. Like I say, the first time and it feels fantastic.
The England centre-back was also full of praise for manager Jose Mourinho, who whom this was a third Premier League title with the club.
“He’s not ashamed or afraid to adapt to every single team that we play, he’s so in-depth in terms of the training and the preparation we do for each and every game, it’s all different,” Cahill added.
“He said in the first year that we weren’t quite ready (to win the league) and it the second year we were and obviously he’s stuck to his word and done that.”
Nemanja Matic was one of the stand out players for the Blues throughout the season and insists that the team still has plenty of room for improvement
“I think this season we did a great job, we lost only three games in the league and we showed we are a big team,” said the Serb.
“Most importantly, we can still improve because we are a young team, young players and next season I hope that we will improve and play better. I know that it is going to be more difficult for us because next season we play as champions.”
Striker Loic Remy, who scored twice in the win over Sunderland, joined the club last summer and believes that picking up two trophies in his first season shows that he made the right choice.
However, he is keen that both he and the team achieve more next season.
“The season has been very good because we won two trophies and when I first signed for Chelsea I wanted to win trophies and to improve in every way that I can play,” said the Frenchman.
“For me, I’m very proud of my team first of all and then of my performance. But, of course, next season I want more and more because I’m very ambitious.”
The other scorer on the day was Diego Costa, who has racked up 20 league goals in 2014/15 since arriving from Atletico Madrid and, speaking through goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, his translator for the day, he spoke of his joy at finishing the season as a league champion.
“It’s really incredible in the first season that I arrived to already be a champion. I’m happy and I hope that next season we can do more,” he said.
Courtois was also at Atletico Madrid last season, helping the club to the La Liga title, but said it was difficult to compare his two title wins.
“It is difficult to compare. I think at Chelsea when you start the season, the objective is to win the league,” explained the Belgian No 1.
“In Atletico we didn’t have the objective so it was maybe more special then because it was more of a surprise. But this one is very good because the Premier League is hard to win with all the top teams that are here.”
