When Chelsea take to the pitch against Real Madrid in the Champions League this evening, many players will be forgiven for believing this is an entirely new experience.
For many of them, indeed, it will be. Hardly any of the Chelsea squad have featured in the last four of the Champions League, while only Cesar Azpilicueta has done so in a blue shirt.
The defender was part of the last Chelsea team to make the last four of the competition, when Jose Mourinho's side bowed out to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
For all their power, prestige and relentless spending in European football over the past two decades, Chelsea haven't had the best relationship with the latter stages of the Champions League.
Yet, when they get to the semi-finals, drama is always guaranteed.
It doesn't take long for the mind of a Chelsea fan to wander back to very turbulent times, when nerves were sky high and glory was on the line.
Some have never forgiven Claudio Ranieri for his mind-boggling tinkering in 2004, while others can still hear the pain in Didier Drogba's voice from two years later when he had to be held back from the camera by his own team-mates.
This is before a certain ghost goal is even mentioned.
Chelsea's romance with Europe's top cup competition throws up thrills and spills in abundance. As they prepare to lock horns with Zinedine Zidane's seasoned veterans, could the football world be in store for the latest installment?
It's a record which is far from envious. Chelsea have played in seven semis and won only two. Something always seems to come up which commands the limelight and turns a game of football into the most outlandish of spectacles.
Ahead of the Blues return to the big time for the first time in seven years, Sportsmail took a look back through the archives...
Ranieri's Monaco meltdown, April 2004
Monaco 3-1 Chelsea (5-3 agg)
Claudio Ranieri was feeling the intense pressure of a new regime in 2004, with new owner Roman Abramovich the fresh face on the block and expecting huge things after injecting millions into the club.
Chelsea were the talk of the football world. The process of steadily acquiring some of the most talented and in-demand players on the planet had started, and it appeared Champions League glory could arrive immediately.
The Blues made the semis during Abramovich's first season at the helm in 2003-04, and Italian tinkerman Ranieri had only Monaco to navigate in order to make the final.
Claudio Ranieri was on course to take Chelsea to the final but was undone by his own tactics
The French outfit were nothing to be sniffed at, but had no pedigree when it came to the Champions League. Ranieri simply had to get things right and his men would be through to the last two of the competition at the first time of asking under the rule of their new wealthy Russian owner.
And then... it all fell apart.
The first leg of the fixture saw Monaco have a man sent off and play with 10-men for 40 minutes, yet still somehow go on to win 3-1.
Dado Prso headed the French side ahead after 15 minutes, but marquee summer signing Hernan Crespo soon got Chelsea back into the contest.
It was just shortly after the second half began that the Blues were expected to take control of proceedings in the Principality, after Andreas Zikos was sent off for raising his hands to Claude Makelele.
The sending off of Monaco's Andreas Zikos was widely expected to turn the tide for Chelsea
Chelsea now had the advantage, but things were already starting to go amiss. At half-time, with the score level, Ranieri had left fans perplexed after opting to take off the hard-working Jesper Gronkjaer for an out-of-sorts Juan Sebastian Veron.
It hampered the flow of the Blues, who didn't look comfortable inside the Louis II Stadium. Though things were about to go from bad to worse.
Ranieri's men did initially make the most of their numerical advantage and very nearly took the lead after Eidur Gudjohnsen headed marginally wide.
But then the tinkerman well and truly lived up to his name. Ranieri made the utterly bizarre call to replace Mario Melchiot with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, before removing the influential Scott Parker for Robert Huth.
The balance of the side was immediately thrown off and Monaco could smell blood. Fernando Morientes lashed home past Marco Ambrosio in goal, despite the best efforts of a young John Terry to block.
But bizarre sub choices unbalanced the Blues and Fernando Morientes fired his side to victory
Minutes later substitute Shabani Nonda also found the back of the net. Chelsea were stumped, and fans in the stands were left speechless.
A huge mountain was left to climb in the second leg, and the damage was already done.
Makelele missed the return leg due to an accumulation of yellow cards, and Chelsea could only manage a 2-2 draw as Morientes tormented the Blues once again.
The blame for the shock 5-3 aggregate scoreline is still to this day put down to Ranieri's poor calls on the touchline.
Luis Garcia and the 'ghost goal', May 2005
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (1-0 agg)
A year after the horrors of Monaco, Chelsea were back and looked stronger than ever before.
They had invested even more into the squad and now looked formidable in every position of the field.
What's more, the man who had defeated Monaco in the final the season prior was now commanding the dug-out. Under Jose Mourinho Chelsea were expected to surge to the Istanbul final.
And then came Liverpool.
Steeped in tradition with a lifelong love affair with the European Cup, the Reds were significantly weaker than their opponents but something about their run to the latter stages under new boss Rafa Benitez had an air of inevitability.
Anfield held its breath as Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal' went in after less than five minutes played
Both sides exchanged heavy punches in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea settled for a goalless stalemate despite chances at either end.
Liverpool, crucially, had been denied a vital away goal. Anything hitting the back of the net for Chelsea at Anfield would surely be sending them through.
But the Blues soon found out this was going to be no ordinary game of football. A wall of noise greeted Mourinho's men as they stepped out into the Merseyside night air.
'The power of Anfield Road, I felt it.' Mourinho would later say after the match, despite being left incensed by one of the most dramatic incidents in Champions League history which happened less than five minutes into the match.
After winning the toss Mourinho's men made Liverpool kick towards the famous Kop in the first half, to deny an emotional advantage late in the second half. But, alas, it would come back to haunt them.
Chelsea's Champions League semi-final madness revisited
by Felipe Monds (2022-09-27)
When Chelsea take to the pitch against Real Madrid in the Champions League this evening, many players will be forgiven for believing this is an entirely new experience.
For many of them, indeed, it will be. Hardly any of the Chelsea squad have featured in the last four of the Champions League, while only Cesar Azpilicueta has done so in a blue shirt.
The defender was part of the last Chelsea team to make the last four of the competition, when Jose Mourinho's side bowed out to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
For all their power, prestige and relentless spending in European football over the past two decades, Chelsea haven't had the best relationship with the latter stages of the Champions League.
Yet, when they get to the semi-finals, drama is always guaranteed.
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It doesn't take long for the mind of a Chelsea fan to wander back to very turbulent times, when nerves were sky high and glory was on the line.
Some have never forgiven Claudio Ranieri for his mind-boggling tinkering in 2004, while others can still hear the pain in Didier Drogba's voice from two years later when he had to be held back from the camera by his own team-mates.
This is before a certain ghost goal is even mentioned.
Chelsea's romance with Europe's top cup competition throws up thrills and spills in abundance. As they prepare to lock horns with Zinedine Zidane's seasoned veterans, could the football world be in store for the latest installment?
It's a record which is far from envious. Chelsea have played in seven semis and won only two. Something always seems to come up which commands the limelight and turns a game of football into the most outlandish of spectacles.
Ahead of the Blues return to the big time for the first time in seven years, Sportsmail took a look back through the archives...
Ranieri's Monaco meltdown, April 2004Monaco 3-1 Chelsea (5-3 agg)
Claudio Ranieri was feeling the intense pressure of a new regime in 2004, with new owner Roman Abramovich the fresh face on the block and expecting huge things after injecting millions into the club.
Chelsea were the talk of the football world. The process of steadily acquiring some of the most talented and in-demand players on the planet had started, and it appeared Champions League glory could arrive immediately.
The Blues made the semis during Abramovich's first season at the helm in 2003-04, and Italian tinkerman Ranieri had only Monaco to navigate in order to make the final.
Claudio Ranieri was on course to take Chelsea to the final but was undone by his own tactics
The French outfit were nothing to be sniffed at, but had no pedigree when it came to the Champions League. Ranieri simply had to get things right and his men would be through to the last two of the competition at the first time of asking under the rule of their new wealthy Russian owner.
And then... it all fell apart.
The first leg of the fixture saw Monaco have a man sent off and play with 10-men for 40 minutes, yet still somehow go on to win 3-1.
Dado Prso headed the French side ahead after 15 minutes, but marquee summer signing Hernan Crespo soon got Chelsea back into the contest.
It was just shortly after the second half began that the Blues were expected to take control of proceedings in the Principality, after Andreas Zikos was sent off for raising his hands to Claude Makelele.
The sending off of Monaco's Andreas Zikos was widely expected to turn the tide for Chelsea
Chelsea now had the advantage, but things were already starting to go amiss. At half-time, with the score level, Ranieri had left fans perplexed after opting to take off the hard-working Jesper Gronkjaer for an out-of-sorts Juan Sebastian Veron.
It hampered the flow of the Blues, who didn't look comfortable inside the Louis II Stadium. Though things were about to go from bad to worse.
Ranieri's men did initially make the most of their numerical advantage and very nearly took the lead after Eidur Gudjohnsen headed marginally wide.
But then the tinkerman well and truly lived up to his name. Ranieri made the utterly bizarre call to replace Mario Melchiot with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, before removing the influential Scott Parker for Robert Huth.
The balance of the side was immediately thrown off and Monaco could smell blood. Fernando Morientes lashed home past Marco Ambrosio in goal, despite the best efforts of a young John Terry to block.
But bizarre sub choices unbalanced the Blues and Fernando Morientes fired his side to victory
Minutes later substitute Shabani Nonda also found the back of the net. Chelsea were stumped, and fans in the stands were left speechless.
A huge mountain was left to climb in the second leg, and the damage was already done.
Makelele missed the return leg due to an accumulation of yellow cards, and Chelsea could only manage a 2-2 draw as Morientes tormented the Blues once again.
The blame for the shock 5-3 aggregate scoreline is still to this day put down to Ranieri's poor calls on the touchline.
Luis Garcia and the 'ghost goal', May 2005Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (1-0 agg)
A year after the horrors of Monaco, Chelsea were back and looked stronger than ever before.
They had invested even more into the squad and now looked formidable in every position of the field.
What's more, the man who had defeated Monaco in the final the season prior was now commanding the dug-out. Under Jose Mourinho Chelsea were expected to surge to the Istanbul final.
And then came Liverpool.
Steeped in tradition with a lifelong love affair with the European Cup, the Reds were significantly weaker than their opponents but something about their run to the latter stages under new boss Rafa Benitez had an air of inevitability.
Anfield held its breath as Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal' went in after less than five minutes played
Both sides exchanged heavy punches in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea settled for a goalless stalemate despite chances at either end.
Liverpool, crucially, had been denied a vital away goal. Anything hitting the back of the net for Chelsea at Anfield would surely be sending them through.
But the Blues soon found out this was going to be no ordinary game of football. A wall of noise greeted Mourinho's men as they stepped out into the Merseyside night air.
'The power of Anfield Road, I felt it.' Mourinho would later say after the match, despite being left incensed by one of the most dramatic incidents in Champions League history which happened less than five minutes into the match.
After winning the toss Mourinho's men made Liverpool kick towards the famous Kop in the first half, to deny an emotional advantage late in the second half. But, alas, it would come back to haunt them.
Champions League semi-finals.
Anfield held its breath as Ricardo Carvalho and William Gallas desperately combined to hack the ball away, but the referee insisted goal. Garcia peeled away in manic celebration and the Kop boomed. Chelsea would hammer down chances upon the Reds for the remainder of the match but Benitez's men would not cave.Semi-final heartbreak strikes again, two seasons running. Riise's Kop own-goal, April 2008Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea (4-3 agg) There has always been something about Chelsea and Liverpool in the modern era of the Champions League.Two bitter foes, determined to thwart each other on the European stage.Still smarting from Garcia's exploits in 2005, the Blues were handed the opportunity to enact revenge two years later when meeting Liverpool once again in the semi-finals, on the road to Moscow.This time, the first leg was to be held at Anfield and Chelsea were desperate for this to be a much less dramatic event. A routine victory desired by all in west London. Disaster struck for Liverpool in injury time as John Arne Riise headed into his own goalOn this day: 2008 - John Arne Riise's own goal inspires the Salomon Kalou song.Liverpool.
Chelsea.
Luis Garcia.
The ghost goal.
15 years ago today. Blues fans of a certain vintage will still have nightmares of Luis Garcia flicking the ball past John Terry after Milan Baros was felled by Petr Cech.