Kovacic explains why things went wrong for Chelsea's 21/22 campaign

"In my opinion it can be viewed as a successful season, not the perfect season, but a very good season," Mateo Kovacic told Chelsea's official website when asked to reflect on the team's 2021/22 campaign.

"We got two trophies, one which Chelsea never got, so it’s a proud moment to be the first team to have won the Club World Cup.

"With all our problems, we still reached two cup finals. It’s still a big achievement. If we had won one more trophy more, it would be a very, very good season.

"We had a very good first spell of the season. Then unfortunately we had some injuries, and some Covid cases, and we had our problems, but in the end we have managed to get into the top four, even if we should have done it even earlier."

The Blues won the UEFA Super Cup back in August and then the Club World Cup in February. Chelsea also lost the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup finals. They are on course to finish third in the Premier League.

Chelsea had a lot of problems with injuries and Covid in December, with key men missing and players having to feature in unnatural positions. It derailed the Blues' Premier League campaign.