I look at my Champions League medal and believe Chelsea can conquer Europe again, says Gary Cahill

Every time Gary Cahill looks at his Champions League Winners' medal, he dreams of lifting the trophy again.

It is now five years since Cahill got his hands on the greatest prize European club football has to offer, when Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich on penalties.

Given that the England international turns 32 in December, he knows there aren't too many opportunities left for him to fulfil his ambition.

However, speaking to Standard Sport, Cahill said: "Yes, I want to experience it once more. What happened in 2012 will be with me for the rest of my life. No-one can take that away from me.

"I still get my medal out at home occasionally and it is something I'm very proud of. But you have to have ambitions, goals in your career, otherwise what else are you playing for?"

Since that memorable night against the Bunedlesliga outfit, the closest Chelsea have come to matching that success was a semi-final defeat against Atletico Madrid in 2014.

Last season they weren't even in the competition due to a terrible 2015-16 campaign, but as defending Premier League champions are returning as one of eight top seeds this term.

Still, many will question whether the current generation have what it takes to take on the cream of Europe.

After all, in that 2012 team were some of the club's greatest-ever players like Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard, while John Terry was still proving inspirational in the dressing room despite being suspended.

They're all gone now and won't be easy to replace, something coach Antonio Conte made a point of stressing at the weekend when he sat down with the English media for the first time.

But when asked if he believes the current squad can compete in the Champions League with the likes of Bayern, who they're playing in the International Champions Cup in Singapore on Tuesday, Cahill added: "I'd like to think so.

"The players that have left the club in recent years are huge names in the sport, huge personalities and characters. But you hope that you can fill those shoes, they are big shoes to fill.

"But football evolves. You saw that in the Manchester United team that won the treble in 1999. Obviously people get old and move on, it will happen to me at one stage. A few more years on the clock and you have to move on - that's football.

"We just have to try and adapt, bring big personalities and big players into the club."

So far they have been doing just that. Around £132m has been spent on internationals Alvaro Morata, Antonio Rudiger and Tiemoue Bakayoko, while vastly experienced keeper Willy Caballero has arrived as a free agent to provide able support for Thibaut Courtois.

The club hope to add four more before the window shuts and Cahill feels Chelsea have already proved to their rivals on the continent that they mean business.

"It's a positive statement, a positive move," he said. "You have to compete (in the market) because a lot of teams are making big signings.

"The Premier League is the place to be and people want to come over and play. We have to keep the squad strong, but signing big players like that gives us a boost as well.

"I'm sure the signings we have made are going to improve this squad. We are very excited as players to have them here.

"It's also about getting numbers through the door because we are going to play a lot of games this season. We need a healthy squad and a very high quality squad.

"To be back in the competition where we feel we belong, where Chelsea usually are, is great and we want to go as far as possible.

"We are respectful of teams like Bayern and the players they have. We know what a fantastic team they've got, but we should be confident.

"We are going into the Champions League off the back of a great season. We understand that what we did (winning the title) is finished and we are back to square one.

"But we take confidence from winning the Premier League last year and the way we have begun pre-season."

The result of the Bayern game was still to be determined when the paper went to press but the two wins that preceded the contest, including an impressive 3-0 triumph over Arsenal, is already an improvement on what happened two years ago.

Chelsea's defence of their 2015 championship looked doomed from the start as defeat after defeat came during pre-season, meaning the squad were demoralised before the Premier League even got under way.

Cahill believes Chelsea have already shown their determination for history not to repeat itself and concluded: "We realise we are not playing for anything actually important. But we spoke before the Arsenal game and said it was important to get that winning feeling as soon as we possibly can.

"To get that winning feeling is great. I don't care if it's a pre-season game or a friendly, every time you take the field in a Chelsea shirt you want to win the game.

"To do it in the style we showed against Arsenal was very pleasing. We are still trying to improve our fitness levels, our sharpness, our decision making, but we played some great football against Arsenal."