Blues head coach Enzo Maresca's first job upon his return to Greece – where he spent the 2009/10 campaign with Olympiacos – was to speak to the media for the pre-match press conference. And he was soon followed by Joao Felix.

The first question put to Maresca related to the fitness of Filip Jorgensen, who has started every cup competition fixture since joining the club in the summer but missed the trip to Liverpool at the weekend.

But our head coach confirmed the Denmark Under-21 goalkeeper is fully fit and will start against Panathinaikos.

Another expected to feature is Joao Felix, and the 24-year-old discussed his blossoming relationship on the pitch with Christopher Nkunku when he faced the media.

The Portuguese international said: ‘He’s a top player. We all know his qualities, we saw him as a player doing amazing things when he was in Leipzig.

‘I think we see the game in a similar way and we know what each other is going to do. It’s easy to play with him and on the pitch, we connect very well.’

Our 22-man squad also includes four academy graduates: goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom, winger Tyrique George and two players who are travelling with the senior side for the first time; 19-year-old centre midfielder Samuel Rak-Sakyi and teenage striker Shumaira Mheuka, who turned 17 on Sunday.

Maresca spoke very positively about both players during his pre-match press conference.

‘They have been with us already for different sessions,' said Maresca. 'Sam has a good profile. He can play holding midfielder or through the lines. Shimmy, we use him as a striker and as a winger.

‘I think they have good profiles, young ones, and it will be a good experience for them to stay with us.

‘We also have Tyrique with us and he is already doing very well. It is good to have them with us because we can hopefully give them some minutes, some chances, and they can grow and they can have different experiences.’