One appearance, one winner’s medal. That is how Bertrand’s career Champions League record read on 20 May 2012, as he joined his Chelsea team-mates in parading club football’s most prestigious trophy down King’s Road on an open-top bus.

Less than 24 hours earlier, he hadn’t even known he would be involved in the final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, let alone write his name in the club’s history as a member of the starting XI for our first-ever triumph in the competition.

In fact, Bertrand had never been on the bench for a European game before being told by then-interim head coach Roberto Di Matteo that he was in the team for the biggest one of them all, on the afternoon of the game, just hours before the squad left the hotel for the Allianz Arena.

‘We had a little video session before with messages from the families to every player,’ he explained. ‘Robbie asked me who all my family were, and then told me I was starting tonight. He threw me into some games and I’d hoped I’d won him over so I could keep it going.

‘I had my mum and brother saying well done and good luck to the whole team in the message, and then it was the whole family saying it. There was a lot of laughter and it really spurred us all on.

‘It felt like it was the moment I had been waiting for, and the closer we got to the game it was also “don’t let anyone down and make sure we win”!

‘I did my best to put everything to the back of my mind and take it as another game, but I had all these images flashing through my head of where I have come from and thinking about doing myself justice. I’d been on loan a lot and been taught over the years to play the game and not the occasion.

‘I used to play with my brother in Bermondsey, playing ‘World Cup’, every man for themselves at the bottom of the flats, against a wall with the ‘No Ball Games’ sign up. I kept thinking about my journey from then to that night in Munich.’

It was quite a moment for the 22-year-old Academy graduate who, after a series of loans in the Championship, had become part of the senior set-up at Chelsea in 2011/12, to provide cover for regular left-back Ashley Cole.

However, it was alongside Cole that Bertrand became the first person ever to make his Champions League debut in the final. Suspensions and injuries had taken their toll on the Chelsea squad going into that game, but Ryan’s big chance didn’t come as a result of necessity.

He was preferred by Di Matteo to French international Florent Malouda to take on the left-wing role from the start, in an effort to help nullify the formidable threat from Bayern Munich’s superstar duo Arjen Robben and Philipp Lahm down that flank.

It was a huge vote of confidence in a player short of European and big-match experience by a manager who will also be taking charge of the Chelsea Legends at Anfield on 22 March.

‘Robbie was massive for me, words can’t describe it,’ continued Bertrand. ‘For him to show real trust in me breeds confidence. To know a manager trusts you means you can go out and express yourself.

‘The manager, along with [assistants] Steve Holland and Eddie Newton, put massive faith in me. They were fantastic to me, believed in me, gave me my chance, and I feel my performances rewarded them as well.’

He certainly fulfilled his role admirably in Munich on 19 May 2012, keeping Bayern at bay for 73 minutes before making way for Malouda, as Chelsea began to push for a goal with the scores still locked in a stalemate.

Of course, we all know what happened next. Instead it was the Germans who took the lead on home soil 10 minutes later, only for Didier Drogba to net a dramatic late equaliser, before the Ivorian striker and goalkeeper Petr Cech emerged as the heroes of a penalty shootout victory.

It was quite a moment for the club as we lifted the trophy for the first time, with even the more experienced pros like Drogba, Cech and the night’s captain Frank Lampard overflowing with emotion following our victory.

Consider then what that moment of victory felt like for a young Bertrand, as his first appearance in the Champions League – and only his 13th start for Chelsea in any competition – ended with club football’s most sought-after winner’s medal draped around his neck.

‘Most people don’t get to the Champions League final in their lifetime, let alone go on to win it, and that was extra special.

‘I had a lot of messages after the game and I couldn’t wait to get back and go back home to see everyone I hadn’t seen in a while. Every single message meant a lot, and the medal stayed right there around my neck for a long time.’

Bertrand won’t be the only player representing Chelsea Legends with one of those medals to show off. In addition to Di Matteo in the dugout, his Munich team-mates Malouda, Gary Cahill and Ramires are already confirmed to be part of the squad to face the Reds, with more names to be added in the weeks to come.

The match against Liverpool kicks off at Anfield at 3pm on Saturday 22 March and tickets are still available here to see Bertrand and his fellow Blues take to the pitch once more.