Chelsea director David Barnard has conceded that the club are happy not to face Arsenal in the Europa League quarter-finals.
The Champions League will witness an all English quarter-final tie when Tottenham take on Manchester City, but the Europa League has not thrown up such a mix.
Chelsea and Arsenal have managed to avoid each other, with the Blues playing Slavia Prague and the Gunners handed much tougher opponents in Napoli in the quarter-finals.
Barnard admits that Chelsea are happy not to take on their London rivals in the last eight of the competition, but insisted that no game will be easy at such a late stage of the Europa League.
He told Italian outlet Tutto Mercato: “We are happy that we have avoided Arsenal, but in saying that, nothing is easy.
“Our opponents deserve to be at this stage of the competition.”
The Chelsea director stressed that the club still want to qualify for the Champions League by finishing in the top four as European ties are always tricky.
But Barnard insisted that the club will treat the Europa League with equal importance.
“We must aim to qualify through the Premier League.
“It is always complicated in Europe, but we are taking every competition seriously.”
Maurizio Sarri has opted to use some of his fringe players in the Europa League, but it remains to be seen whether that changes as they progress in the competition.
