Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti led Chelsea to the Double in his first season in English football but now wants to go one better and win the Champions League.

The Chelsea boss believes his squad can defend their Premier League and FA Cup titles and improve on last season’s defeat by Inter Milan in the knock-out round of Europe’s elite club competition.

Ancelotti said: ‘Our aim is to do better than last year in the Champions League. We went out too early. It is not so easy to be competitive in every competition.

‘We have to defend the Premier League title. We want to do our best in all the competitions.’

The 51-year-old taunted Premier League runners up Manchester United with claims Manchester City could be pushing Chelsea for the title next May.

‘I think they will do better in respect to last season,’ he said. ‘They have a lot of fantastic players and could be an important opponent.’

The Italian would not comment on reports linking Chelsea with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres, insisting he does not need another striker.

Ancelotti also rebuffed suggestions of Ashley Cole joining Real Madrid.

‘Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka come back in the next days, and we also have Daniel Sturridge — so I don’t think we need other strikers. I’m happy to have this squad at the moment. ‘Cole will be important for us next season. 100 per cent. We have to maintain the same feeling.’

Chelsea began their pre-season campaign by beating Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday, thanks to a left-foot Michael Essien drive after 60 minutes.