Albion’s European adventure was born in May but conceived three months previously at Crystal Palace.

That was the day they set their goal on continental competition.

But it will be too early to set similar targets this time, whatever they do against the old foes.

Seagulls and Eagles renew rivalries in the Premier League this evening (8pm).

Roberto de Zerbi recalls the goal for international football was first spoken about openly amid the bitter disappointment of last season’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.

The fourth successive such scoreline in this fixture should not have happened.

Albion squandered good chances, had a good goal wrongly disallowed (by tonight’s referee) and handed an absolute gift of an equaliser to an otherwise toothless home side.

While the previous season’s 1-1 at Selhurst, secured right at the death by Neal Maupay, was celebrated wildly, this one was lamented.

But it galvanised the squad to push for frontiers which had never been crossed.

This time they go to Selhurst Park bolstered by the experience of six European games and trips to Marseille, Ajax and AEK.

They will play before the Palace ultras with experience of the real thing thanks to their Group B travels.

We know De Zerbi carries certain games with him.

He reminded us of that after securing top spot in Group B by beating Marseille as he referenced a painful play-off defeat with Foggia which had at last been avenged.

So did the 1-1 draw last season rankle similarly and does it still bug him?

He replied: “I have a great memory about that game because it was the first time after the game we spoke about the target. “I think it was the crucial day for us.

“We had never spoken about the Europa League or European target.

“After the game there was a bad atmosphere inside the dressing room and I thought it could be the right moment to discover my target, our target.”

That game came after the after transfer window, well into the season.

It followed a period when Albion had been excelling, Evan Ferguson had emerged as a goalscorer and they had every reason to wonder just how far they could go.

While the target might have been articulated within the group after the Palace game, Moises Caicedo had told The Argus at the end of January that he had his sights on helping Albion to the Champions League.

And Champions League was indeed a goal for a short period (fans were singing about it at Leeds) before some wasted points (including at Leeds) left them gunning for the Europa – still a magnificent and historic achievement.

And so, this evening, back to the scene of the great vision.

De Zerbi said: “It’s not clear yet the target for this season.

“We are competing in three competitions because we play in FA Cup next month.

“We are competing in the Europa League and in the Premier League.

“At the moment, we have to keep this position of the table. And in March or April we can be more precise about our target.

“Now we lose (waste) words if we speak about a target in the Premier League because we have a lot of injuries, we have a lot of games.

“At the moment we must think to win every game and to be focused game by game. Especially in this moment.

“Sunday started a new period until the 15th of March when we play in the Europa League.

“I think we have to push more and more in the Premier League because in that moment we can be more clear of our target and our target can change depending on the transfer market.

“I’ve ‘never spoken about the transfer market, but I’m not stupid, eh?”

In fact, they have a slightly shorter period than that in which to build their platform.

Europa action resumes on March 7 which presumably means the team to visit Fulham on the preceding weekend will be the first of 2024 selected with continental considerations also in De Zerbi’s thoughts.

Still, that is a long time away – the other side of a window for which De Zerbi already has thoughts.

He said: “You have to analyse the situation of the long injuries.

“For example, Solly March. I don’t know how many months he needs to recover.

“Julio Enciso, he can’t play before the end of February or March.

“Now we are playing for two months without the full-back.

“We are changing something in the build-up, playing with three defenders at the back, because we have no full-backs, we have to organise.

“I’m honest when I said I want to transform the problems into opportunities.

“I think we are working harder than the first part of the season.

“In the first part of the season we never changed tactics, now we must change and we have to work harder to find a different solution.

"But it’s part of my work, it isn’t a problem.”