Maresca makes major backtrack and now says struggling Chelsea ARE aiming for UCL

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has admitted that qualifying for next season's Champions League is a major aim for his squad.

His side currently sit sixth in the Premier League table with 13 rounds of fixtures remaining.

The top four will automatically qualify for the Champions League, while fifth is also likely to be enough as England currently leads the UEFA association club coefficient rankings.

As well as aiming to secure Champions League qualification, Chelsea hope to add another major European title to their list of honours this season by winning the Europa Conference League.

Maresca spoke at a press conference on Friday morning, just hours before the draw for the Conference League's round of 16.

He told reporters: 'We said many times, I think we spent almost the season in top four and with 13 games to go, the target, for sure, is top four.

'We will try our best to achieve that. Knowing the difficult moment we have now is one of the most important reasons why is because of the injury situation. Five or six significant players out.'

Asked to elaborate on his targets, he added: 'I'm here to win games - to bring this club to fight for titles. The problem is when you win games, you look humble and when you don't win games, you look like a lack of ambition. Since day one, my intention is to bring this club where it needs to be.'

Maresca conceding that his is targeting a top-four finish is seemingly a major backtrack from his previous claims earlier in this season.

Speaking in August, he said: 'What I can say is that nobody from the club asked me for the Champions League this year. Nobody said that we need to finish in the first four. What they said is that we need to arrive and compete, step by step.'

Chelsea had looked well on course for a top-four finish after the first half of the season.

However, they have only won two of their last nine league games.