Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen admits the Europa League has been critical to his career.

The Blues meet Slavia Prague in the first-leg of their quarterfinal on Thursday night.

And Christensen said: "For me personally, the cup games and the Europa League this season have been very important, it has kept me up to speed.

"Obviously I want play every game but it has taken frustration a little bit out of it, getting playing time, and it has helped me a lot.

"I have been here six years, almost seven now and I have always seen myself as a Chelsea product. We have a few here now with Ruben and Callum, I have played with Ruben since I was 16, and for me it has not changed, I still see myself as a Chelsea player and hopefully I will keep being that.

"If you are not playing you get jealous, sitting there and watching.

"We are hungry to play, all of us. Everything we work for every day, we wake up to get in the team, so that makes me more hungry. We are still young, we know that but we want to play."