Chelsea ended Thursday night's Conference League semi-final second leg win against Djurgarden with six academy graduates on the field. Five of them were teenagers. Seven had featured throughout the night in total.
For any level of professional senior football, this is a remarkable achievement and one to be celebrated. It is easy to deride the competition Chelsea unwillingly found themselves in - and also the way Enzo Maresca has used his squad at times - but the benefit these experiences will have on Cobham's finest is not up for debate.
In fact, it is matches like this, where Chelsea only won 1-0 in front of their home fans (taking the tie 5-1 on aggregate) and played with a largely slow and intensity-lacking style, that shows where potentially even more could have been done. If there is the leeway for this much youth involvement in the semi-final then why not also do it more earlier in the campaign?
Maresca's answer will be that his squad was much bigger in the first half of the season. He had backup players like Axel Disasi, Joao Felix, Renato Veiga, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Cesare Casadei - not to mention Christopher Nkunku or Marc Guiu - to give minutes to.
Since January he has been working with a smaller group. That has allowed for more Cobham promotion along with Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong, who are established senior members which Maresca is increasingly trusting in even bigger matches.
The nature of Chelsea's performance was not a problem for the home crowd this time, though. Whereas last month the side were booed off after losing 2-1 to Legia Warsaw despite progressing to the final four, it feels like even a defeat here would not have been met with anything close to the same animosity.
Why? Well, the academy selection is definitely one reason. Stamford Bridge is more likely to offer at least a partial pardon to the team if it is full of teenagers and Cobham bodies making their first steps in the men's game. There is also the change in momentum and atmosphere at the club as a whole.
In just three weeks Chelsea have gone from drawing to Brentford and Ipswich Town, putting their top five hopes at serious risk, to winning three in the league on the bounce (including Sunday's over newly crowned champions Liverpool) with genuine optimism that there is something to be excited about. This matters as well.
When Maresca went with a strong XI for the return Legia match it was scarcely believable. Why, with such a huge match at Fulham coming up, would Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer be risked? It smacked of self-preservation and desperation from Maresca.
Here, he offered 16-year-old Reggie Walsh a full debut after bringing him off the bench late on last week. The schoolboy is the youngest starter for Chelsea in their European history and it's a record not likely to be broken anytime soon. The previous holder was Shumaira Mheuka (17 and four months when he was called on as a surprise at Copenhagen in the last-16), and he came on for another 45 minutes too.
The team Maresca set out finished with Trevoh Chalobah wearing the armband after club captain Reece James was subbed off. Acheampong played ahead of him with George on the left and Genesis Antwi (also 17) on the right. Walsh got the full 90 in a hybrid attacking midfield role. Mheuka was up front.
Speaking at the start of the second half on TNT Sport after Mheuka's introduction, former Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell spoke glowingly of Mheuka. "It's a positive change," he said, before offering a unique insight into the No.9.
"I coached Shimmy when he was at Brighton. I was doing the Under-16s and he was a 14-year-old then and demanding about how he should be playing, starting, for the Under-16s which goes to show the confidence the young man has in joining in.
"He's got good footballing IQ, he's a good size and he's destined for big things. He's at a great club to hopefully hone those skills and get more appearances. Hopefully a goal to come with it."
Mheuka was hardly involved as Chelsea came to grips with the changes being made but was close to scoring with his first touch as a senior player when making his Premier League debut against West Ham in February. He is skipping out age groups to advance at the club.
Chelsea and England youth forward Shim Mheuka
Shim Mheuka is one of the most exciting young players at Chelsea (Image: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno - The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
In a competition where Chelsea have so much margin for error, it is things like this that really do make a difference. It brings people together and garners support in new ways.
As well as the seven Cobham graduates to have played here, Levi Colwill has also made appearances in the Conference League. Eight, in total, have been handed debuts.
Acheampong had already played briefly under Mauricio Pochettino at the back end of last season but George, who did get into a matchday squad late on, did not. Both have played key roles in the run to the final.
The group stage also saw Sam Rak-Sakyi come through in midfield when the logistical challenge of playing in Kazakhstan cropped up in early December. Harrison Murray-Campbell and Kiano Dyer got some fleeting minutes. Ato Ampah played against Astana, like Rak-Sakyi, and Landon Emenalo was a substitute for the Legia second leg.
Had Ishe Samuels-Smith been eligible to make the UEFA 'B-list' then he would very likely have played as well. As it happens, he is being lined up for integration into the first-team next season, football.london understands.
Chelsea and Maresca will find it hard to be as accommodating to the academy in the Champions League. The Europa League would afford them more opportunities but still not quite as much as this hopeful one-off in the Conference League.
That is a challenge and something Maresca will have to tackle when it comes round. For now, the rich quality coming through the Cobham system continues to supply Chelsea with readymade footballers for the present and for the future.
Given the circumstances to do so, Maresca has made great use of that to enhance the teenagers at his disposal and to offer rest to his senior group as well. The Conference League and Cobham have gone hand in hand.
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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