Back on 16 September 1998, Mika Lehkosuo acquired the honour of leading HJK Helsinki onto the pitch at the PSV Stadion in Eindhoven for the first UEFA Champions League group stage match with a Finnish group.Now 44, the 17-times-capped former midfielder is attempting to deliver a new generation of HJK players into Europe's top club contest. HJK's 1998/99 campaign remains the only one by a local side in the UEFA Champions League proper, but with the 26-time national winners having won the last five Veikkausliiga titles, the hope in Helsinki is that an additional historical breakthrough may be imminent.

Lehkosuo's participating in success with HJK in 1998 gained him a transfer to Italian outfit AC Perugia, yet it by no means quite solved, and while he returned home to captain HJK once more, his playing career was ultimately to be reduce short by injury. Nevertheless, he reinvented himself as a coach - initially in HJK's youth department - before a productive spell at FC Honka Espoo, the team he departed earlier this year. Consequently, his HJK relationships guaranteed he was not out of work for long.

After dismissing Sixten Bostram in the early stages of the 2014 season, HJK brought in Lehkosuo as his substitute - a natural choice, not least since the team's chief executive is Aki Riihilahti, another gamer who realized in that famous match in Eindhoven in 1998. A comfortable 3-0 win against FC Haka in the Finnish Cup in late April marked the start of Lehkosuo's senior coaching profession with the club, and he has yet to drop in 21 games, with his side leading the Finnish ratings and through to the last four of the domestic cup, and also continuing their quest for European glory.

Nevertheless, perhaps his greatest obstacle yet awaits Lehkosuo in Wednesday's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg. At home to APOEL FC last week, his charges took a 2-0 half-time lead only for the dismissal of striker Macoumba Kandji early in the second half to let the guests into the tie, earning a 2-2 draw. The likes of Teemu Tainio, Markus Heikkinen and Veli Lampi have performed a lot of times for Finland as well as symbolizing some top foreign teams. Their most well-known name might be forward Mikael Forssell. Now 33, the former Chelsea FC man was on the bench for that 2-1 loss at PSV Eindhoven all those years ago.