The 21-year-old joined the Blues earlier this summer after five seasons at Borussia Dortmund. Two of those were, predominantly, spent in the German club's youth ranks. The other three were enjoyed as part of the first team.

Gittens gained important and varied experience as a result. He featured regularly in the Bundesliga during the 2022/23 campaign and made his Champions League debut against the Blues at Stamford Bridge in March 2023.

Yet it wasn't until a few months later, during the 2023/24 season, that the winger was handed his first European start. And it came on a grand stage against Milan at San Siro.

Despite being 'toilet nervous' – a description Gittens shares with a smile – ahead of the game, the England Under-21 made a telling impact.

He won the penalty from which Dortmund opened the scoring and then re-established their advantage in the second period with his first Champions League goal. The German giants would go on to win the game 3-1.

'Champions League is always a big occasion, and to play against Milan at San Siro is even bigger,' our new No.11 reflected after making his first outing at Stamford Bridge on Friday. 'It really opened my eyes to this level of football, but that was a good game for me, scoring and getting the assist'

Gittens will come up against Milan for the third time in his career this afternoon as the Blues return to Stamford Bridge for the second game of the VisitMalta Weekender.

He was handed his first outing at Stamford Bridge on Friday evening in our friendly win over Bayer Leverkusen and is looking forward to another challenging pre-season test when the Rossoneri visit SW6.

'The game will be a bit different in some ways, obviously, given how Milan play,' he said. 'But it will be interesting to play against them because they are a top team with many top players.

'So they are good tests to have against these kinds of teams.'