Chelsea skipper Gary Cahill still feeling the pain of Blues armband

GARY CAHILL describes his first month as Chelsea captain as “painful” after his sending off in the opening-day defeat against Burnley.

After completing his three-match ban at Leicester yesterday, the England defender will be back in contention when Chelsea open their Champions League campaign against Azerbaijan minnows Qarabag on Tuesday.

And Cahill, who inherited the armband from “Captain, Leader, Legend” John Terry when he moved to Aston Villa this summer, is chomping at the bit on two counts.

After playing just 14 minutes of club football, he is desperate to kick-start his season. But he’s equally eager to return to a competition that was missing from Chelsea’s calendar last year.

“It has been painful because, obviously, I want to be involved and it kills me when I’m not,” he says.

“With the kind of time period that the suspension has been spread over because of the international break, it has felt massive.

“I’ve trained near-enough every day but there’s no end product at the end of the week – hence why it’s painful.

“That’s a selfish viewpoint, of course. But it’s important that I go in and help try to motivate the lads, to help prepare them – even though I’m not going to play.

“I watched JT doing something similar when he wasn’t playing last season, so I’ve been to all the matches. It’s more nervy watching than playing.

“You can impact right up until the moment everyone goes out to play – and then you can’t impact anything. That’s the most frustrating thing.

“But it’s a marathon of a season with so many games to play.

“The two games I’ve played with England have helped. They’ve been great from a personal point of view because the two 90 minutes I got under my belt has helped my match fitness.

“The internationals have also broken the back of the ban and it’s always an honour to play for England anyway.

“I’ve looked at the club’s fixtures and there are loads of matches coming up this month. It will be especially good to be involved in the Champions League again.

“We’re back where we deserve to be, on the basis of our consistency over the majority of the seasons I have been at Chelsea.

“Obviously it’s an enjoyable competition to take part in, because all the best players want to be in it.

“That’s what attracts players to come to clubs. For big players it’s important you’re in the competition, and we’ll try to go as far as we possibly can in it.

“We have a difficult group with Atletico Madrid and Roma. I don’t know a huge amount about Qarabag, but it’s a good fixture for us to start off with, especially as it’s at Stamford Bridge.

“But they have earned the right to play in the competition, so we don’t take them lightly at all. I’m sure I’ll know all about them by the time we play them.”

Cahill may have effectively skippered Chelsea to the title last season with Terry playing only a minor role, but he’s shared the England armband with Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Joe Hart as Gareth Southgate seeks a more collective approach to leadership.

“I think we’re getting there,” says Cahill. “Gareth has stressed the need to bring leaders into the group.

“But ‘leaders’ is a funny word, isn’t it? What is a leader? Someone who shouts and bawls everywhere, or someone who leads by example?

“I think leadership comes with experience. Players become older and wiser the more experiences they have in football – good and bad – and that’s where you start to see leaders coming through.

“We’re developing a few players in the squad who are getting to that age where they are playing big roles in their clubs and taking on that responsibility.

“As far as the qualifiers are concerned, it’s a case of ‘job done’.

“It’s difficult when you go to places like Malta and you’re expected to win comfortably. We knew Slovakia would be a tougher game, and we needed to win to near enough qualify.

“Now we want to get qualification out of the way as soon as we possibly can.”