Andre Schurrle has backed Chelsea to challenge for the Champions League trophy this season, despite seeing his side held by Schalke 04 in their opening game.

The Blues, who won the competition in 2012, were unable to overcome the Bundesliga side at Stamford Bridge last night, playing out a 1-1 draw in Group G.

However, World Cup winner Schurrle is confident that Chelsea can bounce back thanks to their "unbelievable players".

"We went to the semi-finals last season and we have players here who know what it takes and what it feels like to play in the final, so of course we want to go as far as possible," talkSPORT quotes the 23-year-old as saying.

"But we know it is going to be very difficult to do that and we will need to be at our at best from the start. That means being focused on the group and what we expect from ourselves is to win the group."

"We have a really strong squad here, with some unbelievable players and we have the team to go very far in this competition."

The Blues return to European action in two weeks' time when they travel to face Sporting Lisbon.