Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo believes his side's Champions League performance against Chelsea is the standard they need to reach in order to turn their season around.

Atletico went into Tuesday night's match on the back of a dismal start to the campaign, which sees them stuck in the relegation zone in La Liga with just one win in nine games ahead of this weekend's derby showdown with bitter rivals Real Madrid, and having picked up just one point from their first three Group D matches in Europe.

It was to prove to be an ultimately disappointing night against Chelsea at the Vicente Calderon as the 2-2 draw means Atletico now have no chance of getting through to the last 16, but there were still plenty of plusses for the Rojiblancos to take out of the game.

For a start they ended the last perfect defensive record in the Champions League when they took the lead against Chelsea in the 66th minute, and then they showed great resilience to net an injury-time equaliser after the visiting English side had gone ahead through two Didier Drogba goals in the last 10 minutes.

It may not have been a win for Atletico, and their Champions League dream may now be over, but Asenjo was in positive mood after the match, saying: "This good game was a turning point in our work. Now we're going to face a complicated match in the derby, but we now have the feeling that we're doing a good job.

"The team was up to the challenge against Chelsea and we dominated throughout, creating lots of chances. If we play this well, the team will climb out of this situation in which we find ourselves."

Midfielder Cleber Santana added on his club's website: "It was a great match, in which things went well, even though in the end we were unable to win.

"Now we have to think about the match that we have to play against Real Madrid. It's a difficult encounter, but we have enough time to prepare for it. What we have to be clear about is that we have to take advantage of the chances we get. There's no time to wait because we're in the relegation zone."