Cole: We need to win Champions League
Joe Cole aiming for European success
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Midfielder Joe Cole has admitted Chelsea must win the Champions League if they are to be considered among Europe's elite clubs.
The Blues can secure progression to the last-16 of the competition with victory over Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon tonight.
And Cole is keen to show the world that Chelsea are ready to go one better than their final appearance in 2008, which saw them lose on penalties to English rivals Manchester United.
"Chelsea are building ourselves as a club with a genuine claim to be the biggest, but to do it you have to win major trophies. Obviously the Champions League is going to show us as a world-wide club that means business," he said.
"In terms of Chelsea as a football club we need to win the Champions League. We have everything else we need. We have the players, the manager, the set up, everything is fantastic, and to win it would make us a whole."
Carlo Ancelotti's men go into tonight's encounter high on confidence, having won their opening three games in this year's European campaign without conceding a goal.
And Cole added: "We're playing very well at the moment. We are playing a different system that seems to suit us very well.
"If you get the players playing well and happy like we are at the moment then it works and we are playing some really good football.
"We have a lot of world-class players in our dressing room and they are very confident at the moment and we feel like we can score every time we get the ball.
"We go into every game trying to win. Obviously the Premier League is very important but the Champions League is a massive target for us.
"We haven't won it yet but we have come very close over the last five years. So that's the challenge for us."
Ancelotti is ready to unleash striker Dider Drogba against Atletico.
The Ivorian has missed the last three European games for the Blues through suspension, but Ancelotti has drawn a line under the incidents against Barcelona last season - that led to the ban - and is only looking ahead.
The Italian said: "I didn't speak with Drogba about last season. I only speak about him being out in the last three games.
"I said to him to prepare for when he returns, ready to work for the team. Now he is ready to work for the team."
Along with in-form Drogba, Chelsea will welcome back Ashley Cole after a three-game absence due to a knee injury. With Yury Zhirkov injured and Saturday's stand-in left-back Paulo Ferreira not in the Champions League squad, it's a well-timed return.
Also missing for Chelsea will be Jose Bosingwa (knee) and John Obi Mikel (ankle).
The starting XI on the Vicente Calderon pitch tonight will face an Atlético side bottom of the group but with a new coach in charge, after Quique Sanchez Flores took over the reins from Abel Resino following the 4-0 loss in London last month.
However, Flores will have to do without the injured quartet of Mariano Pernia (broken collarbone), Ignacio Camacho, Juan Valera (left adductor) and Roberto (thigh).