From the museum: Beating Betis in the Benito Villamarin

On Wednesday evening, Chelsea’s Conference League campaign will conclude when we play Real Betis in the final of UEFA’s newest competition. The first time we faced the Spanish side, 27 years ago, it was also a story of new dawns, and that is a tale we tell here with the help of an item in the Chelsea Museum.

Change was afoot at Stamford Bridge. It was early in the spring of 1998 and manager Ruud Gullit had just been sacked, to the surprise of the footballing world.

Striker Gianluca Vialli inherited the post and in the process became our third successive player-manager. The Italian’s first assignment was to successfully steer us past Arsenal and into the League Cup final on a magical night at Stamford Bridge.

League defeats to Leicester City and Manchester United followed, so the return of European football provided a welcome distraction from our domestic malaise. We had been top at Christmas, but now sat fifth.

Our Cup Winners’ Cup campaign had begun with routine aggregate victories over Slovan Bratislava and Tromso in the autumn. The quarter-final draw paired the Blues with Real Betis, beaten Spanish Cup finalists the season prior and in this competition only because victors Barcelona qualified for the Champions League.

Betis, managed by future Spain boss Luis Aragones, had beaten BVSC Budapest and Copenhagen in their opening two ties. They hosted the first leg against Vialli’s side at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, in the south of Seville, on 5 March 1998. The stadium was in such a state that UEFA demanded they cut the capacity from 47,000 to 31,000 for our visit, affecting the notoriously hostile atmosphere, but certainly not extinguishing it.

Betis president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, reportedly one of the wealthiest men in Europe at the time, had grand plans to move Los Verdiblancos into a new stadium within a year. Those plans never came to pass, however, with the Benito Villamarin being upgraded bit by bit before and after Lopera’s departure in 2010. It is set to undergo further redevelopment starting this summer.

Back to March 1998, and Vialli had selection issues ahead of his first European game as Chelsea boss. England international Graeme Le Saux failed a fitness test on his ankle, and with Andy Myers back in London awaiting the birth of a child, who filled in at left-back was Vialli’s chief concern. He opted to shift Frank Sinclair, usually a right-back or central defender, across. Steve Clarke, Michael Duberry and Frank Leboeuf completed the backline.

Vialli also opted to abandon his preferred 4-3-3 formation in favour of a more solid 4-4-2. Dan Petrescu, Roberto Di Matteo, Dennis Wise and Eddie Newton formed the midfield, while Vialli opted to drop himself and Mark Hughes, who had been struggling with a calf problem, from the attack. In came Tore Andre Flo and Gianfranco Zola.

Over 3,000 Chelsea fans travelled to Seville, seeking the sun that Bratislava and most certainly Tromso, in the Arctic Circle, had not provided! They were stationed in one corner behind the goal Chelsea were attacking in the first half.

Before kick-off, captain Wise received the pennant that is pictured top from his Betis counterpart. It now takes pride of place in our Museum, along with plenty of other mementoes from our European excursions over the years. There is another from Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over Betis in a Champions League group stage game at Stamford Bridge in 2005.

In our first game against them, the Blues began fast. Ed de Goey, fit to replace Dmitri Kharine between the posts, fell on a tame effort from Finidi George and started a counter-attack. Di Matteo found Flo, who cleverly spun his man before driving goalwards off the right flank. The towering Norwegian shifted his bodyweight to confound another defender in green and white and then fired an accurate finish across Toni Prats and into the net, via the far post.

That goal triggered pandemonium in the away end, bathed in blue shirts, and Chelsea fans had more cause for celebration just five minutes later.

Petrescu was the creator, sliding a pass behind the Betis backline. Flo latched on to it and, showing typically deft feet, danced around a defender. Prats rushed out and this time Flo calmly stroked the ball through his legs and into the net. Chelsea were 2-0 up and the tie was only 12 minutes old.

Chelsea defended solidly thereafter, the only blip coming 43 seconds after the interval when Alfonso was left unmarked to head in a right-wing cross.

‘Chelsea’s tackling was crisp and decisive until the late stages and De Goey dealt well with everything that came at him,’ read the Independent’s match report.

A fortnight later the teams reconvened at Stamford Bridge. Despite conceding first to George, Chelsea roared back to win 3-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate, Sinclair, Di Matteo and Zola with the goals. Aragones was sent off complaining Chelsea were being ‘too tough’, but in truth the Blues were technically and physically stronger than their Spanish opponents.

Our progression left Chelsea as the only British team still in any European competition at the semi-final stage, and Vialli’s dream start to management continued over the next few weeks. Ten days later we beat Middlesbrough 2-0 in the League Cup final, and the 1997/98 campaign concluded with victory in the Cup Winners’ Cup final in Stockholm - we remembered that triumph before our trip to play Djurgarden in the Swedish capital at the start of this month.

The next instalment of Chelsea vs Real Betis, and the first for two decades, is clearly the most important yet, and the Blues will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Flo and co by getting one up on the side from Seville.

You can find out more about our history and see amazing artefacts in the flesh at the Chelsea FC Museum at Stamford Bridge!

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