Chelsea backed for 2012 repeat and Champions League glory as ‘Spanish Burnley’ trends on Twitter following poor performance from LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid

Chelsea are being backed as serious contenders for Champions League glory this season after beating Atletico Madrid.

The Blues gained the upper hand in the first leg of their last-16 clash, with Oliver Giroud scoring a spectacular bicycle kick to seal a 1-0 win for the Blues.

Chelsea have had a difficult domestic campaign, with Frank Lampard axed as manager in January and replaced by Thomas Tuchel.

But they are now eight matches unbeaten under Tuchel and looking a much more formidable outfit.

Former Chelsea ace and talkSPORT host Jason Cundy now sees no reason why the club can’t repeat their 2012 Champions League success.

Just like this term, in 2011/2012 they had changed managers and endured a tough Premier League campaign – eventually finishing sixth – but went on to seal Euro glory.

“We can win it,” Cundy – still an ardent Blues fan – declared on the Sports Bar.

“The year we won it wasn’t the best Chelsea side I’ve seen.

“We had a better Chelsea side when we lost in ’08, we got out the following season in ’09 – that was a better Chelsea side.”

Giroud’s sixth goal in the Champions League this season was his best yet to win it for Chelsea.

On the super strike, Cundy added: “What a brilliant finish from him. He is a brilliant striker as shown over the years.

“He’s not prolific as a striker but he has scored some big goals for Chelsea and that is right up there. Brilliantly taken and he’s up against one of the best goalkeepers in the world there.

“There’s very little of the goal he can aim at. It was a brilliant strike and a brilliant performance. I thought we deserved it and played really well.”

Atletico Madrid failed to have a single shot on target in the whole game and it was an underwhelming performance by the current LaLiga leaders.

‘Spanish Burnley’ was trending on Twitter in response to their performance and Cundy was not impressed with what he saw.

He said: “We spoke last night about what to expect from them. They are top of LaLiga, what is LaLiga right now?

“I saw your mob (Man United) tear apart Real Sociedad, I saw PSG do something similar to Barca and we beat Sevilla 4-0 earlier this season.

“I don’t want to take away from our victory, because it’s a brilliant victory, but if that’s the best Spain can offer then my god, they’ve gone backwards in a serious way.”