Ash eyes Euro success

Ashley Cole is confident that Chelsea have a 'good chance' of succeeding in Europe

The Blues will secure their progression from Group A with a victory over rivals Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday, after beating the reigning champions 1-0 at home earlier in the month.

Whilst Jose Mourinho's men have fallen short in Europe's biggest competition over the last two years, Cole is confident that the Premiership champions can reign supreme on the continent this season.

"We can't think about Barcelona and whether they'll qualify. We've just got to go there and make ourselves qualify first of all," said Cole to the Sunday Mirror.

"I've had a taste of the Champions League being in the final last season, and coming so close and yet so far from winning it.

"But yes, Chelsea can win it. The players we've got here are world-class. We're confident and we've got a good chance."

For Cole, a return to Spain evokes unhappy memories of England's friendly in Madrid in 2004 where many of Sven Goran Eriksson's side suffered racist chanting at the Bernabeu.

The disgraceful scenes still weigh heavily on the left back's mind and Cole has now called for Fifa and Uefa to take stronger action against racists in the future.

The Spanish federation were fined 100,000 Swiss Francs (£42,000) following the incidents, and Cole believes a strong message must be sent out to prevent such occurrences.

"I don't think that is part of the game," Cole added. 

"I don't think any person, whether they're black or white, should have to go through that.

"We didn't realise it was going to be anything like that, walking into a great stadium against a great team.

"But the fans just put a big downer on that. There were kids and old grannies and grandads making monkey noises and doing the actions.

"I lost it in that game. I wanted to walk off. It really hurt me. There were 80,000 or 90,000 in the stadium. It was really bad.

"The authorities should sort them out. I don't think walking off is the right thing to do.

"Uefa have come out strongly and said that they're going to ban teams.

"I think it's an easy way out to just walk off and say, 'I'm not going to play'. If you walk off then they win. I think they just do it to get a reaction.

"But we shouldn't just keep saying, 'Let's do something'. If we hit them hard they'll stop it."

The defender also claims he is now happy with life at Stamford Bridge after becoming the target of Arsenal fans' ire for the way in which he left The Gunners for their London rivals on transfer deadline day.

"I've picked the knives out of my back and I'm happy.

"I've gone through a lot now and I've had to deal with it. I've come through it."

Blues team-mate Joe Cole is also in a positive state of mind after starting his first Premiership game of the season in the 2-0 win over Sheffield United, and the former West Ham star now has his sights set on reclaiming his international place under Steve McClaren after regaining full fitness.

The midfielder has not yet featured under the new boss due to injury and the younger Cole says he can be considered a possible candidate to fill in at right midfield in place of erstwhile captain David Beckham if required.

"People talk about me as a regular for England but you can never take your place for granted, and to have the manager showing concern and wanting me back is a boost," the midfielder told The People.

"I just want to get in there and be part of the team.

"With Becks out of the picture there has been a shift in shape and tactics.

"If the manager wants to have a look at me in that position then I will be more than happy to play there.

"I've been playing there for Chelsea so it won't be alien to me."