Chelsea’s famous European nights: Cup Winners’ Cup

In our recent win against Gent in the Conference League, we played our 300th match in European competition, dating all the way back to 1958.

To celebrate that landmark, we are this week running a series reflecting upon our most notable European games and goals, beginning with our Cup Winners’ Cup highlights…

Chelsea 4-0 Club Bruges AET – March 1971

In our maiden Cup Winners’ Cup voyage, we had to fight back from two goals behind when we met Club Bruges in the quarter-finals.

Peter Houseman and Peter Osgood had missed the first leg in Belgium through injury and suspension respectively, but they had a huge impact in the return game at Stamford Bridge.

Houseman pulled one back midway through the first half before Osgood levelled things up with nine minutes left to send the match at a raucous Stamford Bridge to extra-time.

Osgood, the King of Stamford Bridge and playing his first game in eight weeks, struck again in the 114th minute to put us ahead for the first time in the tie.

Tommy Baldwin rounded off a memorable 4-2 aggregate triumph, prompting manager Dave Sexton to declare this was ‘the greatest Chelsea night since we won the FA Cup’ the previous year.

Even better was to follow just a couple of months later…

Real Madrid 1-2 Chelsea – May 1971

Our first European final, played in Athens, had finished 1-1 as Real Madrid cancelled out Osgood’s opener right at the death.

Two days later, the teams reconvened. This time Chelsea got the job done. First-half goals from John Dempsey and Osgood put Sexton’s side firmly in the ascendency, but Madrid hit back with 15 minutes remaining to set up another tense finale.

Aided by two brilliant Peter Bonetti saves, the Blues held on to spark joyous scenes inside the stadium for the travelling supporters who had managed to stay in Greece – and even larger-scale celebrations back in London.

Chelsea 13-0 Jeunesse Hautcharage – September 1971

We started the defence of our title in the most commanding fashion. After winning 8-0 away to Jeunesse Hautcharage in Luxembourg, we thrashed the amateurs 13-0 at Stamford Bridge. It remains our record victory.

Jeunesse had a one-armed striker, a defender with glasses and a 15-year-old schoolboy. It was no surprise the Blues blew them away, with Osgood helping himself to five goals and Baldwin three.

There was one each for David Webb, Alan Hudson, Houseman, John Hollins and Ron Harris – there was no resting of key players as in the modern game!

The aggregate scoreline of 21-0 remains a joint record in European competition. Feyenoord beat another Luxembourg team, Rumelage, by the same scoreline in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup.

Chelsea 2-0 Club Bruges – March 1995

After a 23-year absence from Europe, Chelsea returned to the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994/95.

There was a sense of déjà vu when we again faced Bruges in the last eight and required another comeback at the Bridge after we conceded a late winner in the first leg in Belgium.

But summoning the spirit of 1971, Glenn Hoddle’s side levelled the aggregate score through Mark Stein.

Paul Furlong then grabbed the winner when he fired home from the edge of the box at the end of a swift counter-attack he had started, prompting pandemonium at the Bridge.

Tromso 3-2 Chelsea – October 1997

This was, quite simply, one of the most famous and remarkable away games in Chelsea history.

Even by Norwegian standards, Tromso is far north, located over 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle. The small city was already under snow by late October and Tromso were playing their domestic fixtures indoors. UEFA would not allow that in this competition.

The pitch was passed fit to play just 45 minutes before kick-off, and when the game got underway the hosts handled the terrible surface better, racing into a two-goal lead. That’s when the snow started to fall, quickly enveloping the whole pitch.

Locals did their best to clear it, but play was halted twice as the lines disappeared under a white blanket. Some more sweeping of the snow later and on we went.

Gianluca Vialli pulled a goal back, but Tromso responded instantly with the Blues temporarily down to ten men.

There was time for one more balletic Vialli effort before the end – and any fears of a shock exit were swiftly extinguished on the green grass of Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea won the return leg in west London 7-1 but those snowy memories will live forever.

Chelsea 3-1 Vicenza – April 1998

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg of our semi-final tie against Vicenza, Chelsea were already up against it when the Italian side took the lead at Stamford Bridge with a vital away goal.

The Blues had to score three in under an hour. Magnificently, we did just that! Gustavo Poyet fired us level on the night before Gianfranco Zola netted a rare header.

With a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, and one goal still required, up popped substitute Mark Hughes.

Latching on to a long Ed de Goey kick, the veteran forward won a header, darted toward his own flick-on, and blasted in a sublime half-volley to send the Blues to Stockholm.

We would meet Stuttgart in the final…

Stuttgart 0-1 Chelsea – May 1998

Our second Cup Winners’ Cup final was far from a classic but contained a truly iconic Chelsea moment: Gianfranco Zola coming off the bench and scoring the only goal barely 20 seconds later.

Zola was annoyed not to be starting and seemed to let out that frustration with one blast of the ball after latching on to a clever Dennis Wise pass.

The Italian genius fired his shot into the top corner in front of the stand housing the majority of the huge Chelsea travelling support.

It brought the trophy back to Stamford Bridge for the second and final time, with the competition abolished a year later. The victory also allowed us entry into the Super Cup, which we lifted in Monaco that August courtesy of a 1-0 win over Real Madrid.