Tomorrow's home game with Roma sees us renew a rivalry left dormant since 1965, when we met in the first round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

A memorable tie for those involved, we ran out 4-1 winners after a superb performance at Stamford Bridge and a 0-0 draw in Rome.

Tommy Docherty's young side went on to reach the semi-finals that season, eliminated after a replay by eventual winners Barcelona, surpassing 1860 Munich and AC Milan en route to the Nou Camp.

A Terry Venables hat-trick and a strike from George Graham gave us the advantage in a bruising encounter at Stamford Bridge, which saw Eddie McCreadie sent off, despite being on the end of some physical defending.

Three men in the Blues line-up that night have shared their memories with chelseafc.com, and reflected on the club's first major run in European competition.

Goalkeeper Peter Bonetti was already a fixture, as was forward Barry Bridges. Left-winger Joe Fascione was looking to establish himself in the team, and recalls the side he was coming in to.

'It was a terrific team, thrown together because of a few injuries. I was just getting into the side myself, Peter Osgood was just getting into it and Tommy Docherty had left one or two people out.

'Barry Bridges played wide on the right, I was on the left. Marvin Hinton was injured so Alan Young came in for him. In the 1960s Chelsea had very good players so no matter what side Chelsea put out it was going to be useful,' he said.

Prior to the game, expectation at Stamford Bridge was high. Though the floodlights were a few years old, night games were still a novelty, the lights illuminating the pitch and new West Stand, opened that summer.

Added to that, it was only Chelsea's second European campaign, and Roma represented the first 'glamour' foreign opposition in those competitions. Fans were in for a treat.

'The place was ram packed, and obviously when we were down to ten men they lifted us. I remember at the end they carried us all off, it was one of the Chelsea highlights for me, the crowd just poured on and lifted everyone in the air. It was a great night, and the atmosphere was fantastic,' Fascione added.

'It was one of our early big games, and we were a young side in those days, so it was us getting experience the more we played in Europe,' Bonetti said. 'Lots of Chelsea fans wouldn't have been around in those days but I can tell you it was a very physical game.

'When you have 10 men and you beat an Italian team 4-1, it shows what a brilliant performance it is. I can't remember everything that went on because it was such a long time ago, and I can't remember all of Terry's goals but I do remember the free-kick vividly because we had worked on it in training.'

The set-piece 'The Cat' speaks of is also remembered well by Bridges, who takes up the story.

'Unbelievable! Venners was pushing the wall back and then stepped back, and curled it to the side and scored, that was one he did on the training ground. We played very well in the game at Stamford Bridge, ever so well.'

With a three-goal advantage secured heading into the away leg, spirits were high in the dressing room, but joy soon turned to consternation with the sight of McCreadie, dismissed for punching a Roma player.

'There were plenty of arguments after the game, and when Eddie showed us his thigh, we couldn't understand why the other guy hadn't been sent off for the tackle, and not just Eddie for his reaction,' Bonetti said.

'I don't remember the incident, there were so many in the game. Italian sides were like that at the time, and you knew you were in for a battle.

'Referees control things now a lot better than they did then, because players could get away with a lot, and the game is a lot more sensible nowadays too,' he added.

Bridges also recalls a falling out between coaching staff, which led to some hairy moments in the return leg in Rome.

'Doc and their manager fell out after that game. What sticks in my mind, we didn't know at the time, but there must have been some feedback to Roma about the home game and the trouble we had. When we arrived at the airport there were a lot of people there and the reception was terrible,' he said.

'We didn't play at the Olympic stadium, it was a smaller one with about 20,000 people and the crowd close to the pitch. We were pelted with everything you could think of, the pitch was half-covered with potatoes, cabbages, tomatoes, the lot. We knew we were in for a hard night!

'They had these hard little potatoes and as you ran down the wing they were hitting your body. Days later you had these little bruises, it was awful. I have never seen so much on a football pitch.'

With a 0-0 draw in Italy came progression to the next round, the reward being Austria's Weiner Sportclub. A 2-1 aggregate scoreline was achieved there, and the later stages looked attainable.

'We reached the semi-finals, losing to Barcelona the following spring, having got past AC Milan playing three times and winning on the toss of a coin,' Bonetti said.

'It was a crazy way to decide a game, but it didn't matter as long as you got through. They didn't have penalty shootouts and had no other way, but for playing on and on and on, so it was just one way of sorting it out.'

As we are now only too aware, this method was eventually replaced by the penalty shootout, where we have suffered heartache twice in recent European campaigns.

Much has changed in football in the 43 years since our last clash with Roma, and events on the pitch are far more likely to be remembered for the football than the aggravation this time around.

A hat-trick from a Chelsea midfielder in a 4-1 win would certainly be welcomed by three ex-Blues, though in reality three points would be more than enough to set us on our way for another memorable European campaign.

A repeat 4-1 score is 22/1 with online betting partner Paddy Power, while a Frank Lampard hat-trick is a long shot at 33/1.