MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon believes his side has to target at least the Champions League quarter-finals after the disappointment of crashing out at the group stages last season.

The Italian champions opened their Group A campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Malmo, but are expected to face a much tougher test when they travel to last season’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid today.

“We want to get back to the stage where this club belongs,” Buffon said yesterday.

“At the very least we want to get back to the level we reached a couple of years ago when we lost to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. That is the minimum objective.”

Atletico were surprisingly beaten in their first European outing of the season 3-2 by Olympiakos and Buffon hinted that Juventus would be happy to retain their three-point gap over the Spanish champions with a draw at the Vicente Calderon.

Atletico boss Diego Simeone is well-known to the visitors as he played for eight years in Italy with Pisa, Inter Milan and Lazio and Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri believes his intensity as a player is reflected in how his side play.