Thomas Tuchel has rekindled Chelsea's love affair with the Champions League

Thank the European football gods, the almighty UEFA and Gazprom, for the Champions League.

It feels strangely apt that in this most chaotic of domestic seasons - with the frenetic, relentless fixture schedule - that all drama and intrigue should fizzle out so swiftly as we reach the business end of proceedings.

Amid a dearth in quality football and Premier League matches overall, the title has been wrapped up, two out of three relegation places are reserved, and the race for the top four is probably not as close as certain broadcasters would have you think.

While Chelsea are embroiled in that war of attrition for Champions League qualification, their run in this season's edition of Europe's premier club competition is providing a very welcome distraction, and - more importantly - some actual thrills.

In normal circumstances, the Blues would be exactly one year on from their most humiliating European failure of the modern era, losing 7-1 on aggregate to eventual winners Bayern Munich at the last 16 stage of the 2019/20 campaign.

As it was, their inevitable demise was delayed until August thanks to a certain pandemic, and it was clear at the time that Chelsea had fallen far from Europe's top table. But while the one-year-on narrative isn't quite as clean and linear as this writer might like, the point still stands: under Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea are back to where they want to be on the European stage.

Much has already been said an written about the stellar job Tuchel has done since replacing the insurmountably popular club legend, Frank Lampard - an appointment that was mocked and questioned by Chelsea supporters and rival fans alike; the team is unrecognisable defensively and should be on course for a comfortable top four finish given their favourable fixture list.

Those were perhaps best-case-scenario expected outcomes after the German's instalment, even in the eyes of the staunchest Lampard stans, but no one could have predicted Chelsea's 13-game unbeaten run and comfortable run to the Champions League quarter-finals, and potentially beyond.

Chelsea's modern history is punctuated by great European nights, but the once regular semi-finalists and one-time winners have been starved of a decent tilt at the competition for the best part of a decade, and the apathy has grown as the Blues' chances of success have diminished.

But after seven long years, Tuchel has rekindled Chelsea's love affair with the Champions League and finally put paid to the paradox of striving so desperately to qualify for the competition, only to flounder the following season and have no serious chance of going deep into the knockout rounds, let alone win it.

If the west Londoners can make good on their last 16 dismantling of Atlético Madrid - albeit not the sh**housey, potent Atlético we're all accustomed to - in their favourable quarter-final draw against Porto, they stand every chance beating either Liverpool or Real Madrid if they are still in decent nick come the semi-finals in late April.

The beauty of the situation is that now Tuchel has overcome the round of 16 hurdle, the Champions League is something of a free hit; yes, Chelsea will be expected to beat Porto, but thereafter they can enjoy the ride as the plucky outsider, and that is far more than most associated with the club would have expected at the start of the campaign.

Chelsea's star is rising once again, and although it is far too late to mount any sort of domestic challenge, the Champions League offers the perfect platform to demonstrate their exponential improvement under Thomas Tuchel.

While supporters will hope this signals the start of consecutive runs to the latter stages, they'll be praying to UEFA and Gazprom that this is their year once again.

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