We put ourselves in the driving seat in our last-16 tie against the Spanish league leaders, with Olivier Giroud’s spectacular bicycle kick in Bucharest giving us a 1-0 lead at the halfway point.

However, our captain has urged caution ahead of the second leg, with last night’s match having confirmed for him the quality of our opposition and the fine margins which could separate victory and defeat at this level.

‘That was obviously a tight game, there were not a lot of chances,’ he said. ‘We knew we had to make the most of them because they are very solid, they defend together, it is not easy. We had to defend together as a team and we did a solid team performance, but there is still a lot to do.

‘They are a solid team. We know that they have quality players, that they can make a lot of chances with different solutions and when it is a Champions League last 16 we know that every chance is very important.’

The Blues edged much of the game in the first leg, but found Atletico’s reputation as one of Europe’s toughest defensive units well deserved and had to be constantly aware of our opponents’ counter-attacking threat. With that in mind, Azpilicueta says we won’t be changing our mindset for the second leg in an effort merely to try to hold our lead, but will try to repeat last night’s controlling performance, and even improve on it, to seal our progress to the quarter-finals.

‘Now we have it in our sights but there is still a lot to do and we fully believe that we are very capable of doing a good match again in the second leg.

‘We play every game to win. We scored one away goal and it is important, we won, we didn’t concede any chances or goals. We’ve played the first leg and it’s a positive result, but we know there is lots to do and we work to improve and go through.’

So, while the Spanish defender was pleased with the performance, much like on the domestic scene he insists there is still plenty more work and improvement needed if we are to reach the standards the team expects of themselves and have a chance of ending the season with silverware.

‘We are here so, of course, every team that is in the last-16 stage has a chance to win it, so let’s go step by step,’ added Azpilicueta. ‘We cannot get too carried away about this result. It’s positive, we are in a good dynamic, but we know that as a team we can still go further.

‘We have an amazing squad with the quality, number of players, competition inside of the team, so let’s go and keep progressing and improving.’