Blues fans of a certain vintage will never forget the night we entertained the Rossoneri – the great AC Milan, here at Stamford Bridge! – and came away feeling hard done by, having just about shaded one of the more entertaining 0-0 draws you are ever likely to see.

It was the start of a beautiful relationship between the Blues and the Champions League, filled with just about every emotion you can think about, and the 11 players out on the pitch that evening go down in history for beginning our journey in the competition proper.

Twenty-three years on, we’ve done our best to find out what each of them are up to now – with some a lot easier than others…

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Ed de Goey

Our big Dutch goalkeeper set club records for appearances and clean sheets in a season – both of which have since been beaten – during an epic campaign. He spent three more years at Chelsea after this and played out his final days on the pitch with Stoke, before becoming a goalkeeper coach. As well as at QPR, he has fulfilled that role on and off for a number of clubs in his homeland over the past decade or so, including RKC Waalwijk and most recently with VOC Rotterdam.

Albert Ferrer

Chapi’s experience in the competition, as a former European Cup winner with Barcelona, was vital – and he even popped up with a lovely goal against Hertha Berlin. Unlike De Goey, when Ferrer left us in 2003 he retired from football completely. Most of his post-playing career has been spent as a pundit, although he did try his hand at management, starting with Vitesse in the Netherlands and even enjoying a brief spell in charge of Real Mallorca.

Frank Leboeuf

For all his expertise at international level – he won the World Cup, don’t you know – Leboeuf was taking his first steps in Europe’s premier club competition, and he went on to score our first goal in group stage of the Champions League. Nowadays he does plenty of punditry, most notably for ESPN, and he has become a successful actor, both on the silver screen and on stage.

Marcel Desailly

The only man in this team to score in a Champions League final – he did it for AC Milan in 1994, a year after beating the Rossoneri with Marseille – but Desailly was known for his defensive solidity rather than attacking prowess. He was a big hit on UK screens as a pundit at major tournaments a decade or so ago, but he now focuses on his ambassadorial work for UNICEF and FIFA, and he has recently been taking the World Cup on tour. Not a bad gig…

Celestine Babayaro

Baba was once the youngest player in Champions League history, before he joined Chelsea as a teenager and became the first Nigerian to represent the club. Although he almost made it to 200 appearances for the club, the left-back’s career faded out after he left us in 2005 and he has largely kept out of the spotlight. However, he has been involved in a couple of Legends matches, against Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

Dan Petrescu

As much as Super Dan loved Chelsea, even naming one of his daughters after the club where he spent five happy years, he must really love Cluj. In a long and varied managerial career that has covered Poland, Russia, China and the Middle East, Petrescu is currently in his third spell with the Romanian side and in May he won his fourth league title with them.

Dennis Wise

Chelsea’s second-most successful captain of all time enjoyed one of his best seasons in Blue during our first Champions League campaign, scoring a rather good goal in the San Siro that is now immortalised in song. Who would have guessed that he’d have given up on coaching early on to become an executive, go on to appear on I’m A Celebrity and then, finally, end up working in Italy for Como, where he has recently signed Cesc Fabgregas?

Didier Deschamps

Another two-time Champions League winner, like his good mate Desailly. It is clear Deschamps was signed for his nous at the top level, and he certainly played the best football of his solitary season for Chelsea in the competition. He later came back as manager of Monaco to knock us out in the semi-finals and he has the only man to win the World Cup for France as a player and manager.

Gustavo Poyet

A goalscoring Chelsea No.8 before the goalscoring Chelsea No.8, Poyet chipped in as usual during our run to the Champions League quarter-finals and finished as top scorer as we lifted the FA Cup. It was inevitable he would go into management after hanging up his boots – although golf comes a close second among his passions in life – and his current role is with the Greek national team.

Tore Andre Flo

Flo was always a handy goalscorer for the Blues, with his tally of 50 in 163 appearances all the more impressive when you consider how often he was a sub. But in the Champions League he became a different beast, netting eight times – including three against Barcelona. The softly spoken Norwegian seemed an unlikely candidate to go into coaching, but after various roles at Chelsea he is now managing Sogndal in his homeland.

Gianfranco Zola

It was a dazzling display in our Champions League opener by the twinkle-toed Chelsea No.25, who was in his element among Europe’s elite. He has had a number of different managerial roles, most famously with West Ham and Watford, but his most recent coaching job was assisting Maurizio Sarri in our Europa League-winning campaign. Now likely to be found as a pundit or on the golf course…

Manager: Gianluca Vialli

Our manager that day was, of course, Gianluca Vialli – a man who had his fair share of battles with the Rossoneri during his playing days with Sampdoria and Juventus. Luca is now working alongside his old Samp team-mate Roberto Mancini with the Italian national team, helping his country to European Championship glory at Wembley last year.