The Blues are preparing to face Atalanta tonight on matchday six of the league phase knowing a victory in Italy will leave us well placed to advance directly to the Round of 16.

And ahead of our 100th away game in the competition proper this evening, we have selected nine facts for nine days of Advent that we think you will enjoy…

A new dawn

Champions Chelsea were the first English club invited to enter the new European Cup - now better known as the Champions League - in 1955. However, the Football League pressured the Blues board into withdrawing.

Our first opponents back then would have been Stockholm side Djurgarden, who we would meet 70 years later in the Conference League semi-finals.

Pot Two

Despite it being our maiden voyage in the Champions League, the Blues were placed in pot two for the first group stage draw in 1999/00, owing to the team’s impressive recent European record in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

We would be paired with AC Milan from pot one, Galatasaray from pot three and Hertha Berlin, the highest-ranked seeds in pot four.

By George

Our first game in the competition proper, in September 1999, was against a star-studded AC Milan side that featured future Blue Andriy Shevchenko in attack but not George Weah, who was suspended.

Weah would transfer to Chelsea a few short months later, scoring the winner on his debut against Tottenham in January 2000.

Herculean effort

The 4-0 defeat we inflicted on Lazio in the Stadio Olimpico in November 2003 remains the famous Roman club’s biggest European defeat on home soil.

Only twice in their history have Lazio lost by a greater margin at the Stadio Olimpico.

Unpunished for unwanted record

No team has ever had more players suspended for a Champions League final than Chelsea did in 2012. Four Blues – John Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles – all had to watch from the sidelines.

Thankfully, we still emerged triumphant, beating a Bayern Munich side who themselves were missing three through suspension.

Getting the miles in

Our longest Champions League away trip has been 2,500 miles (4,023 km) to play Qarabag in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2017.

It is a journey we repeated this season earlier in our league phase campaign, with the Blues earning a 2-2 draw.

Minding Messi

It took Lionel Messi until his ninth Champions League appearance against Chelsea to score his first goal.

The Barcelona man finished with three in ten appearances in the heavyweight meetings between the sides – with that ratio of 0.3 goals-a-game the lowest Messi has registered against the 114 teams he has netted more than once against.

Covid conflictions

The coronavirus pandemic of 2020/21 meant Chelsea’s Champions League fixtures that season were played out in unusual circumstances due to differing government policies.

There were 11,000 supporters at our game against Krasnodar in Russia in October 2020. A few weeks later, 2000 Blues fans watched us draw with the same team at Stamford Bridge – the only game they were permitted to attend until the final in Porto, which was initially scheduled to be hosted in Istanbul.

In between, we beat Atletico Madrid in the away leg of our Round of 16 tie in Bucharest, Romania, and played a ‘home’ game against Porto in Seville, Spain.

The kids are alright

In over 200 matches, our club's youngest Champions League debutant is Reggie Walsh, who played at 17 years and 2 days against Ajax this October.

Estevao Willian became our youngest scorer at 18 years and 181 days in that same game.

Chelsea Foundation will be hosting 'Magic of Blue' collection points ahead of our home games in the run-in to Christmas for supporters to donate gifts. All gifts need to be in their original packaging and we are not able to accept food or drink items. Items welcome for donation include:

- Soft cosy blankets
- Unisex warm socks/Slipper socks (with grip bottoms)
- Gloves/Mittens/Hats/Scarves
- Craft kits/Puzzles/Crossword books
- Photo albums/Notebooks/2026 diaries and calendars
- Christmas decorations

Supporters are also able to donate money to support those experiencing loneliness at ChelseaFC.com/MagicOfBlue. So help support Chelsea FC Foundation by donating or sharing with your friends.