Despite the European pedigree of Chelsea and Real Madrid, we’ve faced the 13-time European champions just five times in a competitive fixture, most recently in this season's Champions League semi-finals. The first two clashes came 50 years ago this month, in 1971, when we met in the Cup Winners’ Cup final in Athens.

Following a 1-1 draw in the first game, the Blues secured our maiden European trophy in the replay thanks to goals from John Dempsey (pictured above right) and Peter Osgood. We built up to the game with a special Pre-Match Briefing earlier today, and now look at the match itself and the celebrations afterwards with the help of Dempsey...

John Dempsey: ‘It’s amazing that, 50 years on, fans still remember this team and what we were able to achieve. We helped create a lot of history, so to have the supporters talking to us about beating Real Madrid so long ago, to still want to discuss it, really is touching.

‘Fans speak to the players who were there that night in Athens and talk about what we achieved as setting a legacy for Chelsea. To have been part of that is a lovely feeling. It’s quite remarkable, really.’

With their heritage in Spain as perennial winners, even 50 years ago Real were among one of the most feared sides on the European stage. With a team packed full of homegrown talents such as Osgood, Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris, John Hollins and plenty more, the Blues were hardly a pushover either. So, while their opponents in Athens came with a reputation, Dave Sexton’s side weren’t intimidated come kick-off.

‘When you go back and look at Real Madrid, they were a top team. They always have been. As a club they’ve carried this aura about them, but when we turned up for the final, we weren’t scared of them one bit. We knew we could beat them, although there was this feeling of, ‘Gosh, we’re playing Real Madrid!’

‘I remember Paco Gento played against us in the first game. He was 38 by that time, but he was a Madrid legend. Playing against him was quite something. He had a big legacy and profile in the game. It’s what I mean about Real – you just know who they are when you face them.’

For all that aura, it was Chelsea who were the dominant team, however. Osgood scored early in the second half and it looked to have won us the cup, only for a 90th-minute equaliser from Ignacio Zoco to take the game to a replay.

'I like to say the final was a tale of two games, rather than halves. We weren’t thinking about a draw in the first game, especially as we were winning right up to the death. We should have won it then as we were the better team.

'We weren’t too deflated after, either. Sometimes, when a team has had a win snatched from them like that, it can take the stuffing out of you. It can reduce your confidence a little for the replay, knowing you should’ve won. Dave Sexton wouldn’t let us even think like that. Immediately he was impressing onto us that we had the beating of Real, that we were the better team.

'Dave was just so confident. His talks between the two games were all about getting at them, causing them problems, being on the front foot.'

While the Chelsea players took heed of their manager’s advice in the days between the first game and replay, it soon became clear that many of the Blues fans who had travelled to the Greek capital had missed their flights home in order to stay on and support the team for their second shot at Real. With many sleeping on the beaches and unsure of whether or not they would get tickets for the replay, the players stepped in.

'Ossie took all our allocated tickets for the replay and nobody was quite sure what he was going to do with them. Then we found out he was giving them to the fans who had stayed in Athens and had been sleeping on the beach just so that they could be there still.

'The fans wanted to be a part of it and we knew that had Real not equalised so late on in the first game, they would have been. Ossie doing what he did, with the support of all us players, just showed how close we were to the Chelsea fans – those who could make it to Athens and those who watched us every week in the Shed.

'We had such a strong bond with them. They would be there every week to watch us and it made us feel like we knew them. We respected them. You would come out onto the pitch, hearing them sing, and it was spinetingling. Ossie just did something small for them to show what we as players really felt.'

The replay went the same way as the first game, although this time Chelsea were more clinical. Sexton’s men were leading 2-0 at the break thanks to another strike from Osgood, but it was Dempsey who had set the team on their way midway through the first half with a spectacular volley.

'I think the goalkeeper retired after I, of all people, scored against him! But in all seriousness, it’s obviously an honour to find yourself on the scoresheet in a European final for the team you’ve grown up watching.

'I grew up in Kilburn and my dad would take me to watch Fulham and Chelsea. I started my career with Fulham, playing with Johnny Haynes. I couldn’t believe it, I was only 17 and playing with legends of the club. Moving to Chelsea was another moment I had to pinch myself. Then, a little while later, I was scoring against Real Madrid to help us win the Cup Winners’ Cup. What a journey!'

The Blues held on to secure a 2-1 victory. Cue the celebrations, as the Kings of the King’s Road went into party mode!

'The party was unbelievable. The fans were going mad and they celebrated with us at the hotel after. I just wished everyone from the first game could have been there to enjoy it with us. I can’t talk about some of the stuff we got up to after in Athens. I’ll just have to say it was a night to remember.

'Coming through the streets in London after was just incredible. There was Blue everywhere we went, with Chelsea fans lining the streets. I look back now and I can still picture it all, being in the Town Hall with the Cup Winners’ Cup just sat there.

'It was a great moment to be living. Football has always been about characters and we had them in that team.'