Last Updated: Thu, 06 Dec 2012 06:47
Rafael Benitez says Chelsea will try to win the Europa League and will take it seriously following their Champions League exit.
Chelsea crushed Nordsjaelland 6-1 on Wednesday night but Juventus' win against Shakhtar Donetsk meant the holders failed to make it through the group stage and into the last 16.
The Blues will now have to settle for the Europa League, which can be seen as more of a distraction to the bigger clubs, but Benitez says they will try and win it.
"You ask me if I will take the Europa League seriously; every competition is important for us so we will try to do our best and win if we can," Benitez revealed.
"The Europa League is not important if you don't win. When you are in the semi-final or the final, everyone wants to win it. We know that it is an important competition and we want to go as far as we can and if we can win the competition, we will try to do that."
Meanwhile, Benitez was delighted with the performance of his players as they put in a convincing performance against the Danes, even if it counted for nothing.
"Can we change the result of the other game? No," the Spaniard added. "Can we change the situation? No. So we have to think about what we can change, which is improving and be ready for the next challenge.
"The game was out of our hands. I said before that we had to do our job and, as a manager, you have to be really pleased with the performance of the team."
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