On a windy night in the Slovakian capital, Chelsea breezed into the second round of this competition without hardly drawing breath. A goal in each half was enough to overcome a disappointing Bratislava side who were more than out-classed.
Chelsea began the game with four changes from the side that had won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge a fortnight before. In came the left-back Graeme Le Saux, suspended for the first leg, the French central defender Bernard Lambourde and the right-back Frank Sinclair. There was yet another change up front, with Gianluca Vialli this time partnered by the beanpole Norwegian, Tore Andre Flo. Mark Hughes and Gianfranco Zola were being rested for Sunday's game against Liverpool.
Although Bratislava were without their suspended defender Jozef Antalovic, they were relieved to find that, contrary to reports, their captain and central defender Robert Tomaschek was free of any such ban.
The stocky number eight soon made his presence known with a couple of robust challenges on Vialli. The Italian soon took his revenge although the Slovakians could rightly argue that they got a bum deal. In the 28th minute Miroslav Konig in the Bratislava goal fielded a back pass and kicked the ball clear, or so he thought.
Vialli, standing close, turned his back instinctively to avoid the kick but in doing so found the ball hitting his backside. From that firm launching pad the ball ballooned goalwards, hit the underside of the bar and bounced down over the line.
Few in the ground, including Vialli, could believe what had happened, but this one piece of good fortune effectively sealed the tie for Chelsea, given that Bratislava then needed to score four goals to win.
Bratislava threatened only spasmodically in the first half but the end product was woeful; so was the behaviour of the home fans, who let loose a volley of racist abuse whenever Sinclair or Lambourde touched the ball. The match itself was a poor spectacle with Bratislava offering little threat and, once Vialli's bizarre goal had gone in, Chelsea just shuffled along in second gear doing only what was required to see them through to the second round.
It was into this benign and unstressful environment that Ruud Gullit chose to give the 19-year-old Nigerian winger Celestine Babayaro his first game. The youngster came on as a half-time substitute for Poyet, having been sidelined with an ankle problem since his summer arrival from Anderlecht for £2.25 million. He quickly sent Vialli clear into the area from where the shaven-headed Italian produced a shot past Konig only to see a goal-line clearance from Tomaschek deny Chelsea their second goal.
The reprieve was short-lived however. Seven minutes later another cross from the left from Vialli this time found his compatriot Roberto Di Matteo unmarked on the back post and the international mid-fielder had the simplest of tasks slotting the ball home from no more than a foot. Chelsea were really toying with Bratislava by that stage, their passing and movement too slick for the home side to cope with.
Vialli nearly added a third goal for Chelsea on 71 minutes when his fiercely struck free kick from the edge of the area deflected goalwards off a defender. However Konig produced a marvellous reflex save to push the ball away.
Guardian ServiceSlovan Bratislava: Konig, Gunda, Pecko, Tomaschek, Novak, Muzlay, Hornyak, Moder, Kereszturi, Borisenko (Nagy 61), Pukalovic (Puchner 65). Subs Not Used: Sobana, Hoger, Bernady. Booked: Pecko.
Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu (Nicholls 73), Leboeuf, Lambourde, Poyet (Babayaro 46), Vialli, Wise, Le Saux (Granville 65), Di Matteo, Flo, Sinclair. Subs Not Used: Clarke, Hughes, Hitchcock, Zola. Booked: Poyet, Di Matteo. Goals: Vialli 27, Di Matteo 60.
Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).
