Our brilliant former midfielder’s finest hour in blue came as our epic and unexpected European campaign of 2011/12 reached its conclusion.

On what the commentator Martin Tyler would memorably describe as ‘a journey fraught with danger’, the Blues were never more up against it than when Andres Iniesta put Barcelona 2-0 up at the Nou Camp in the second leg of our semi-final tie.

Chelsea were not only 2-1 behind on aggregate to a team many describe as the greatest in the history of club football, we were also a man down after John Terry’s sending off. Enter Ramires, who signed for Chelsea 15 years ago today.

‘We had training in the week before,’ Rami recalled in an interview with the official Chelsea website in 2017.

‘We were doing some finishing and David [Luiz] came to me and said, ‘Rami, when the goalkeeper comes, you must chip the ball,’ and I said okay, but in training I did one or two and the ball did not go in the goal!

‘Then in the game, I had that opportunity. Frank Lampard’s pass was amazing the ball arrived for the one-touch finish. He put the ball in front of me, and when I arrived there I chipped the ball as I saw (Victor) Valdes coming, Dani Alves on the left, and another defender behind, (Gerard) Pique or (Carles) Puyol.

‘I saw Valdes coming and if I shot to the side, maybe he could do the save, so when I saw the goal behind him I thought the only way was that, and I did it! When the ball dropped, I looked and I ran and then I looked again to see if the ball goes in. That was an amazing moment for me.’

As it was for the five thousand or so Chelsea fans in the Nou Camp’s summit, and everyone else watching around the world. Ramires’s jig of delight spoke not only of the brilliance of the finish but a renewed belief Chelsea could achieve the impossible.

A Lionel Messi penalty miss and a Fernando Torres breakaway goal later, and we had done just that. Somehow!

One thing is for sure. Without Ramires’ moment of magic, it is hard to imagine Chelsea would have advanced to Munich, where more miracles were written.