Albion’s away game with Roma is not totally unprecedented.

But the second playing of this fixture will be rather different to the first.

Supporters are already making their way to the Eternal City - some are already there - ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash.

The Seagulls' contingent will certainly hope for a better result this time.

There will be more away fans at the Stadio Olimpico than the total attendance for the previous meeting.

And better preparation for the visiting squad.

Back in November, 1981, Albion lost 4-1 to Roma before 2,329 at the rather more basic Stadio Olimpico, before the roof was added for Italia '90.

When PSV Eindhoven pulled out of a friendly, Albion stepped in at short notice.

They were a top-flight team at the time and going well under Mike Bailey.

In fact then, as now, they were ninth in the table and had just suffered a three-goal away defeat (in their case, an embarrassing 4-1 at Barnsley in the League Cup).

Most of the first division fixtures had been postponed ahead of England’s vital World Cup qualifying game against Hungary.

Back then, a free weekend was seen not as a chance to rest – even in a 42-game league season - but was an opportunity to play twice.

Albion drew 1–1 in a friendly with Crystal Palace on Saturday and then headed to Italy to face Roma on Sunday.

Their team was Graham Moseley, Tony Grealish, Gary Williams, Steve Gatting, Steve Foster, Gary Stevens, Jimmy Case, Gordon Smith, Michael Robinson, Neil McNab and Gerry Ryan with Mike Ring on the bench.

Eight of those players had appeared in the previous day’s run-out at Selhurst Park.

Roma’s own sponsors, pasta manufacturer Barilla, sponsored the game.

They presented Albion with the impressive Trofeo Barilla, which was essentially a reward for turning up.

The memento is now on display in the club museum at the Amex.

It was restored in recent years and is quite eye-catching, decorated with laurel and oak leaves and adorned with two imperial eagles, a symbol of ancient Rome.

Smith, who scored Albion’s goal with a precise shot having earlier hit the post, has very little memory of the trip.

He suspects a degree of fatigue meant the visitors were not at their best.

The fact Roma scored two late goals perhaps backs that up.

And he recalls a visit to the Vatican City as part of the trip.

Roma were managed by the great Swedish tactician Nils Liedholm, who was to take them to the Serie A title the following season and the European Cup final a year later.

The latter was staged at the Stadio Olimpico and saw Liverpool win on penalties after a tense 1-1 draw.

Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar did his rubber legs act to play on Roma nerves and star duo Bruno Conti and Francesco Graziani both fired over from the spot.

Roberto Pruzzo, who scored with a clever header that night, converted a penalty in the rather more low-key meeting with the Seagulls after a foul by Williams on Paolo Giovanelli.

Might Roma’s history now be different had Pruzzo not been substituted by the time of the Liverpool shoot-out?

Roma skipper Agostino Di Bartolomei, who put away the first spot kick that night, also netted against Albion.

He was well known for his powerful shooting from just outside the box and this 90th-minute effort here was apparently a powerful finish angled past Moseley after Pruzzo had combined with Sebastiano Nela.

Di Bartolomei, a stylish passer of the ball who is fondly remembered by Roma fans, suffered from clinical depression in his later years and took his own life on the tenth anniversary of that shattering defeat by Liverpool.

As well as winning the penalty, Giovanelli scored himself and another of his shots forced a Steve Foster own goal.

Six of the players who faced the Seagulls went on to play in the European Cup final, including goalkeeper Franco Tancredi.

Conti, the brilliant Italian winger, and Brazilian midfielder Falcao were absent for Roma.

So that was the one previous meeting of Giallorossi and Seagulls.

There were initial plans for a friendly at the Amex in the pre-season of 2013.

That did not eventually take place and Albion ended up meeting Villarreal (who they could yet face in Europe this season).

Albion also have a trophy from the time they lost 1-0 to Real Madrid in Majorca in 1983.

Writing in 2018, club historian Tim Carder told fellow supporters: “They may only be ‘giftware’ rather than the silverware resulting from genuine tournament victories, but these two trophies are truly magnificent souvenirs of Albion’s encounters with some of the biggest teams in Europe.

“It would be nice to think that one day we might meet those clubs again in serious competition.”

Part of that comes true this week.