However, they last went head-to-head in the last 16 of the Champions League in 2011 when Nicolas Anelka’s double in the away leg handed the Blues a 2-0 advantage to take to Stamford Bridge, where a 0-0 draw pitched them into last-eight battle, ultimately unsuccessfully, with Manchester United, who would go on to lose to Barcelona in the final at Wembley.
For a club which won the Champions League as recently as 2021, European club football’s lowest-profile competition may not represent the big a prizes, but a trophy is a trophy and would represent a building block along the way to where it wants to be once again.
Victory over Copenhagen would pitch the English side into a quarter-final tie with either Molde, conquerors of Irish side Shamrock Rovers in the play-offs, or Legia Warsaw, while one of Pafos, Djurgarden, Borac and Rapid Vienna would await in the semi-finals.
The Italian has guided the club into the Premier League’s top six but, with just six points separating Nottingham Forest in third and seventh-placed Newcastle, the battle for European places is likely to go to the wire.
Enzo Maresca’s side were handed a two-legged last-16 tie against the Danes in Friday’s draw in Nyon, the reward for their 100 per cent group-phase record which allowed them to top the table with 18 points.
