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Schalke 0 Chelsea 3: Fernando Torres sends out warning that there is plenty more to come after he scores twice in Blues' win

Striker believes that the club are in a good position to push on their assault for both Premier League and Champions League success

Matt McGeehan
Wednesday 23 October 2013 17:14 BST
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Fernando Torres scored twice in the 3-0 win over Schalke
Fernando Torres scored twice in the 3-0 win over Schalke

Fernando Torres has warned Chelsea's rivals there is plenty of room for improvement.

The Spain striker netted twice in Tuesday night's 3-0 Champions League win at Schalke which took Jose Mourinho's side top of Group E and saw the Blues extend their unbeaten run to seven games.

The Champions League campaign began with a shock defeat at home to Basle, but now the Blues are firmly in control after scoring seven times without conceding at Steaua Bucharest and in Gelsenkirchen.

"After a bad start we have had the last six points away and that's very important for us," Torres said on chelseafc.com. "We have to play Schalke again at home and we're not in a bad position now.

"We can do better, but to win away in the Champions League is not easy.

"We're building up. There's many more good things to come.

"Hopefully we can see the best Chelsea from now until the end of the season."

Torres believes he, too, is finding form after taking his tally to the season to four goals.

"Individually it is the same, the last few games I feel very sharp, very well," he added.

"It's about work, working hard and feeling the belief of the staff, the belief of the players in ourselves and I feel the belief I have in myself.

"The more important games of the season are still to come."

Torres was selected ahead of Samuel Eto'o, who became the first Chelsea striker to score in the Barclays Premier League season against Cardiff last Saturday.

The World Cup winner enjoys the competition for places.

"We have three very good strikers and hopefully all of us can score goals," the 29-year-old added.

"When I play I hope to score goals and when Samuel and Demba (Ba) play they have to score as well, so this competition is very healthy."

Chelsea took a fifth-minute lead when Torres headed in following a Frank Lampard corner, but were under pressure thereafter before two blistering counter-attacks were rewarded with Torres' second and a third for Eden Hazard.

"We have players with quality who can find spaces quickly and who can attack spaces behind defenders," Torres added.

"It was the way to win. They had the ball, they liked to have the ball and play. They created a lot of problems for us.

"As soon as we regained the ball we had lots of space."

Hazard started the move which led to Torres' second and netted the third and was thrilled with his first goal in Europe's elite club competition.

The Belgium forward told Chelsea TV: "(It was) my first goal in the Champions League. I hope to score again and again with Chelsea."

The ruthless counter-attacking of Chelsea pleased Lampard.

"When we defended we were very organised, we didn't give them too many chances to create great openings and when we counter attacked we caused them real damage," the 35-year-old midfielder said.

"Coming away in Europe is tough, but we put in a performance which we had to in order to win the game and it was very satisfying."

And Mourinho was happy his squad dealt with the early set-back to seize control of Group E ahead of the November 6 return with Schalke at Stamford Bridge, a home clash with Steaua and the concluding trip to Basle.

"The good thing for me was the way we coped with the pressure," Mourinho told Chelsea TV.

"You lose at home, the first game against Basle, you are in trouble. Many people panic and think we go to the Europa League again.

"The way the team coped with that pressure, to come two consecutive matches away and win six points, it's important, the way the team psychologically reacted to that."

Chelsea are now targeting first place in the group.

Hazard said: "We're delighted to be top of the group, but we still have three games to play and we want to win them all.

"Of course, we're happy to be up there at the moment, though."

Germany winger Andre Schurrle added: "We've got three tough games to go and we need to collect points from each of them.

"We're determined to finish first in the group and we'll be doing everything we can to achieve that."

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