Jose Mourinho has told Chelsea "the real Champions League starts now" after the Blues romped through Group G with a tournament high 17 goals.
The Barclays Premier League leaders' place in the last 16 was already confirmed prior to their 3-1 defeat of Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night.
The Blues could play Juventus, Basle, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris St Germain or Shakhtar Donestsk in February's first knockout round.
"I don't think any of the big teams is out of the Champions League now. Maybe Liverpool," Mourinho said.
"But all the teams that want to win the competition, they're all in the competition.
"Season after season you repeat this; normally everyone is in the last 16.
"Everybody's there, so the Champions League starts now.
"What can we do? I don't know. Last season, for sure, we were not one of the top four and we played in the Champions League semi-finals.
"Let's see what we can do this season, step by step."
A Cesc Fabregas penalty and goals from Andre Schurrle and John Obi Mikel - his fifth goal in more than 300 Blues appearances - earned the win.
Mourinho said: "We did what we had to do. We played seriously and we deserved to win, I believe. Good attitude. The players were serious."
Diego Costa played the full 90 minutes after Mourinho suggested he needed to work on his sharpness following the Newcastle loss.
Mourinho thought Costa's performance was "very good", adding: "He wants to improve his condition.
"The confidence is not high, his condition is not the best. (But) he always wanted the ball, always wanted to associate with the wingers and with Fabregas.
"Very important for him. Better than against Newcastle, better than against Sunderland."
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the 18-year-old midfielder who has been at Chelsea since the age of eight, made his debut.
Mourinho's instructions prior to introducing the teenager were simple.
The Blues boss said: "'I give you this, you have to give me a nice bottle of red wine'. He told me, 'no problem'."
Sporting needed only a draw to advance, but the loss left them relying on Maribor avoiding defeat against Schalke.
But the Germans won 1-0 in Slovenia to advance to the knockout stages.
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