At the end of Tuesday night’s remarkable comeback, Christian Pulisic perhaps had the best understanding in Chelsea's dressing room of how Ajax's players felt.
Two years ago the American attacker was part of the Borussia Dortmund team that led 4-0 against their neighbours Schalke in the Bundesliga only to end up drawing 4-4.
"I’ve been in some wild games before," Pulisic said. "I remember being up 4-0 in Dortmund and tying 4-4. I don’t want to talk about that but this game was crazy.
"Now being on the other end of it is special. You could see when the team put them under pressure like that it’s just not easy. It was a crazy game."
Crazy seemed an understatement but Chelsea's fightback, along with Valencia's win against Lille, means that three teams are now tied on seven points in Group H with two rounds of fixtures remaining.
Frank Lampard's team visit the Spanish side, who they were beaten 1-0 by in the group opener, at the end of November before hosting Lille, the only side out of the reckoning, at Stamford Bridge in the first week of December.
Chelsea are likely to need four points to progress to the knockout rounds and although confidence remains high they are aware that they need to get a result at the Mestalla.
"Valencia is going to be a huge game for us," Pulisic added. "We just have to get a result there and then we’re looking great to go through.
"It’s going to be really tight. It just makes those next games that much more important, so we have to go there and get a result."
One of the most striking things about Tuesday evening's game was how Ajax continued to attack when down to nine men.
"It’s the kind of team they are," Pulisic added. "They were kind of sitting and doing well on the counter. You’ve got to deal with that because we were putting a lot of guys forward because we needed to. But yeah they’re a good team."
While Pulisic said that Chelsea must learn from the "silly mistakes" that saw them concede four times in the opening 55 minutes, their comeback pointed to a team full of belief in adversity and a determination to prove doubters wrong.
"Being down like that, you’d think a draw would be an unbelievable result but it’s almost that feeling where we wanted more. We scored a winner and it was taken back [by VAR] so it was tough.
"At half time we said we were never going to give up, we can go out and win this game. We showed a lot of fight and came back."
Much of that came from Lampard's team talk, which leaned heavily on ensuring his players kept their heads up.
"Of course, he gives us confidence and he’s the one who pushes us and tells us to do it. It shows the fight of all the team.
"What did he say at half time? Just silly goals on our part, silly defensive mistakes, but we’re going to make chances and we’re going to win this game."
They did not win it but a draw at least ensures their hopes remain live.
