NEMANJA MATIC reckons Chelsea aren't scared of anyone, at home or abroad.
The Blues arrived back in England yesterday after their three-match North American tour which ended with a penalty shoot-out win over Barcelona.
Jose Mourinho's men now have Arsenal in their sights this Sunday in the Community Shield, but after reacquainting themselves with the best in Europe on Tuesday night, Matic couldn't help thinking about going for Champions League glory.
The first knock-out round defeat to PSG last term was the one blot on the Blues copybook, and Mourinho's Serbian midfield enforcer is convinced that won't happen again.
"Of course we're not happy that we didn't play so well in the Champions League but we hope this season we can go further," said Matic. "My dream is to win it and we will see if we are ready this season.
"To be champion you need to have everything - quality, luck, everything. This season I hope we have more luck and with our quality this is enough to be champion.
"We have quality like the big teams, we will show that this season. We are ready to compete with everyone. I'm not scared.
"Our players can compete with all the big stars. That's why they are Chelsea players. I believe in their quality.
"Last season we showed our quality and took two trophies. It's difficult, especially when you're in the Premier League, to win both, but we are ready for the season."
Mourinho moaned before jetting back to London that his men have had a short pre-season of just three games and two weeks' training ahead of the big kick-off.
Fiorentina visit Stamford Bridge next week in the final friendly before the Premier League starts on August 8 when Swansea come to town.
But Matic thinks Chelsea are in good shape, and certainly Eden Hazard looked sharp against Barca, bagging a brilliant goal, while Brazilian wonderkid Kenedy impressed during his first 45 minutes of the tour.
Mourinho faces an anxious wait to see if Gary Cahill broke his nose after being punched in the face on his way to scoring to make it 2-2, while Diego Costa needs a check on a slight hamstring strain.
Matic added: "We used these days very well. We had three very difficult games against good teams and especially against Barcelona it was a good opportunity to show how we are prepared. And we're happy we won on penalties.
"We'll be ready for Arsenal. We know what we have to expect. It's always a special game when you play at Wembley and we'll be ready for sure.
"We've trained hard but we needed that as we had one month free.
"We are ready for the next season and I hope we start well with a trophy and we will try to show our quality in the first game.
"Of course against champions everyone has special motivation and wants to win, but we are ready for that and we believe in our quality."
Mourinho also had time to hit back at Rafael Benitez's wife with a remarkable jibe about his rival manager's weight
Montserrat Seara had claimed her husband "tidied up the mess" left behind by Mourinho after Benitez took over at Real Madrid this summer - the third time he had joined a club previously managed by the Chelsea boss.
Mourinho's response was to tell Mrs Benitez she should concentrate on her man's diet, and claimed Benitez "destroyed" his treble-winning Inter Milan side in 2010, while pointing out the former Liverpool boss had not directly succeeded him at Chelsea or Real.
"The lady is a bit confused," Mourinho said. "Her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto Di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid and replaced Carlo Ancelotti.
"The only club where her husband replaced me was at Inter Milan, where in six months he destroyed the best team in Europe at the time.
"For her also to think about me and to speak about me, I think she needs to occupy her time, and if she takes care of her husband's diet she will have less time to speak about me."
