We begin with Steve Clarke, a longstanding defender who signed in 1987 and a decade later started in the FA Cup final as we ended our long wait for a major trophy…

We had a talented squad with a good mixture of young and old, good foreign players coming into the team, and it was a chemistry where it came together. Everything seemed to click.

It was an amazing start. I think Roberto [Di Matteo] had run out of ideas and just decided to hit it.

A 1-0 scoreline is always dangerous but we didn’t have to take too many risks. We knew we would get more chances, and when we get the second goal through Eddie Newton we could relax and enjoy the closing stages of the game.

At the end of the game, I thought ‘finally’. I could get my hands on a trophy. It was a sense of relief. It was the icing on the cake of my career. It was a great moment for me, and a significant moment for Chelsea. You could feel a significant shift in the club in terms of ambition. This team and this trophy was the catalyst for moving the club forward.

In 2003, Chelsea were in financial difficulty. Champions League football was a must the next season and in a make-or-break game against rivals Liverpool, captain Marcel Desailly equalised to guarantee us the point we needed to stay in fourth, with Jesper Gronkjaer later adding the icing…

This goal I had been looking for. When [Sami] Hyypia scored, it was like somebody hit us. I said, ‘no, I have to do something’. You can see I am at the front from a cross, I should not be in that position, but I was there because we had to come back.

It was important for the club to again be in the Champions League. It was the last game of the season and we could go on holiday after knowing we could start the next season with the league and the Champions League.

In 2004, Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea and he brought with him several familiar faces, including central defender Ricardo Carvalho, who would later become a Blues great…

After I won the Champions League at Porto, my goal was to play in the Premier League. Of course, it was good to be with Jose Mourinho because I knew his way of working and his methods, and being with the technical staff that I knew and won a lot of things with was great, but I would have taken the same move anyway.

I like to prove myself and the next step for me was to play in a better league. That was the part that made the decision easy.

During my career, I always wanted to put pressure on myself. To arrive in a physical game like the Premier League did that. Because I grew up in Portugal, it would have been easier for me, with my characteristics, to go to Spain. The way football is in Spain would have been easier for me to play in.

It was a big step but I always wanted to put the pressure on myself, show that I can deal with big guys, big strikers. A lot of centre-backs at that time were also strong; I wanted to prove that I could fight with them and improve. Porto didn’t want to let me go but I knew that I could be a success in England.

Thiago Silva was one of the most respected defenders in the history of football, but when he arrived at Chelsea from PSG in 2020, the Champions League was missing from his trophy cabinet. That all changed in 2021…

The year before, when I was with Paris, I lost the final. Then I changed clubs and in my first season achieved this dream. You think, 'How can it happen in this way?!' Only God has the answers and knows the moments. I smile when I see the picture with the Champions League trophy.

Of course, it was not the game I expected as I got injured in the first half. We all have an ego and we all want to play in these games – a Champions League final! – but my ego in relation to what my team-mates and the club needed wasn't important at that moment.

I could have continued but I wasn't 100 per cent able to help the team. So I decided with [Thomas] Tuchel to come off and for Andreas [Christensen] to come in. He had a brilliant season so it felt right, and he did so well.

It was not easy watching, but I felt so happy and as if I had played the 90 minutes! What a crazy day.’

After a fantastic first season at Chelsea, Sjoeke Nusken headed to the Olympics in Paris, and returned with a medal…

It was really nice being in the Olympic village and getting to know the other athletes. Everyone wore the same clothes so it was nice to be part of the whole team of Germany.

I enjoyed it a lot. We won the bronze medal which was so amazing. I can’t believe it! It’s really hard to put into words what it means. We had a great team spirit and it’s such an amazing memory. And we could celebrate the bronze medal together with every athlete, which was really special.

Levi Colwill has been at Chelsea most of his life, so he was just a little boy when he signed for the club…

I remember being in the old dome, coming in as a trialist. I was really nervous at the time. I had a six-week trial and I remember going in really enjoying it. On my ninth birthday, I was offered a contract and I signed it there and then.

From then on, the Chelsea Academy was all I knew. I didn’t know anything else and I didn't think where it could lead, I was just playing football. I think that helped me reach the levels I did at that age, or be as good as I could’ve been.

I wasn’t focused on anything else, there was no pressure, my family didn’t put that on me. They allowed me to be myself and I loved it.