The Croatian international is one of the few members of this Blues squad who has previous experience of the Club World Cup and the only one already in possession of a winner’s medal.

He twice played in and won the competition during his time with Real Madrid, lifting the trophy in Japan in 2016 and successfully defending their title the following year in Abu Dhabi, where this season’s edition is also taking place.

That gives Kovacic happy memories of the tournament and he is hoping to make more during Chelsea’s trip to the United Arab Emirates, ahead of today’s semi-final against Asian champions Al Hilal, feeling it is so difficult to qualify for the Club World Cup that it is an honour just to be here.

‘I’ve had the luck to be involved in two Club World Cups already and it’s a nice experience because it’s not easy to come here. You have to win the Champions League, which is the most difficult competition,’ he said.

‘So this is always an important competition and a nice one, to come here where it’s nice weather, but we need to concentrate on our job, which is to play a good semi-final. Then, hopefully, we can look forward, but first the most important thing is to win the first game in this competition.’

Although this is his second time competing in a Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, Kovacic admits he hasn’t seen much of the country, even when he was here in 2017 before Covid restrictions, as his focus has always been firmly on the task at hand. However, feeling privileged with the opportunity to compete for this trophy, he insists he wouldn’t have it any other way

‘When I was here before it was not quite the same with restrictions but similar, because in the end we are not here to enjoy the weather and the city, we are here to play football, to train and to win matches.

‘It’s nice to be here in the good weather, it’s easier when you come from bad weather to better weather. So it’s nice training in the evening but, like I said, we are just here to prepare and win this competition.

‘That is the thing we are here for – to have a good competition, to try to win it. Abu Dhabi is very nice but we will not see much of it. We will just see football pitches, which is what we like!’

Despite lifting the trophy on both occasions, the 27-year-old’s previous campaigns taught him a valuable lesson about just how tough competing at the Club World Cup can be, especially for the Europeans, who instantly become the team to beat for those from the other continents.

He got first-hand experience of that with a couple of scares when his Real Madrid team needed to come back from 2-1 down to triumph 4-2 in extra time of the 2016 final against local champions Kashima Antlers, before also needing to come from behind to win 2-1 in the 2017 semis against Al Jazira from Abu Dhabi.

That leaves him in no doubt as to the quality of opposition we will be facing, although he insists any added motivation they have when facing the European champions will be more than cancelled out by the Blues’ desire to bring the trophy back to England.

‘For sure it will be tough, because these are good teams,’ he explained. ‘They are not here because they had luck, they are here because they are good teams, they won competitions. So these are big games, good games.

‘We need to be prepared for them, like we always are, because we’re professional and we just like to play football. In the end it’s a semi-final and it’s a big competition that we would obviously like to win. For this club every trophy is important and it’s another great competition.

‘We should have the same motivation as any team, because we want to win every game, win every competition, so I think the motivation should not be a problem for us. We are playing a World Cup so the motivation should be high for everybody, which for sure it is.

‘These players, they know that Chelsea is a club that wants to win everything and we are here to win a trophy that Chelsea have never won, so that’s an extra motivation for us. So it would be an amazing thing to be the first players that brought this amazing trophy back to London for this great club.’

Thankfully, Kovacic is going into the tournament in fine form. That is despite missing a large chunk of football at the end of last year due to testing positive for Covid straight after an injury, being absent for nearly two months before returning in the draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, our last game before Christmas.

‘I trained at home when I was out with Covid and then maybe the first week was difficult to come back, but then when I got into the rhythm I got better day by day. With these team-mates it is not so difficult to come back because they are great at helping each other and I just got into the rhythm quick and I feel very good now.’

Kovacic certainly seems to be enjoying his football at the moment, helping us record back-to-back wins, against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, before departing for Abu Dhabi.

The moment that really stands out since his return, though, is his brilliant volley against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, which sparked our comeback from two goals down to draw 2-2 and was later voted as the Premier League Goal of the Month.

‘That goal was very nice and of course one of the most beautiful goals in my career. There was obviously a little bit of luck involved in it, I have to say there was a little bit because it went in off the post, but I was happy to score. I thought it was going to be disallowed because the VAR took so long with the check, but in the end I was happy it was given.

‘The most important thing would have been if the team had won, because it would have been a precious three points for us, but in the end we showed great character to come back after conceding two goals and that just shows what kind of team this is.

‘It was one of the best atmospheres I have experienced in Stamford Bridge, to be honest, because when I scored the fans really got fired up. Then two minutes later Christian scored and they exploded. It was a really nice moment to be involved in such a great game.’

After scoring that brilliant goal, the midfielder then struck the woodwork twice in our last match against Plymouth. With his tally of two goals and five assists this season both representing his best return in a Chelsea shirt so far, it is clear he is having an increasingly large influence in the final third of the pitch, even if that is not his primary responsibility with the team.

‘It’s always something that I’m working on, but it’s not the most important thing for my side of things. Scoring goals is always important, but there are other things that I can bring to my team. The most important thing is that I bring to the team what I do the best and that the team keeps improving.

‘But like I said, it’s something I want to improve and I have improved this season, so I will try to be even more aggressive in these areas and to try to get more assists and more goals, even if it’s not the most important thing on my side of things.’

With a Club World Cup semi-final fast approaching and Kovacic pursuing his third winner’s medal in the competition, Abu Dhabi would be the perfect place for him to make an impact again and add further to those numbers.