"Vialli - why only in Europe ?"

"I think Chelsea wanted to prove a point today" - Ruud Gullit

"I just had a feeling, and the feeling was right" - Gianluca Vialli

"They said a lot of things about us in the first leg. We weren't too happy about it. They know how to play on snow, we know how to play on grass" - Dennis Wise

"Sing when it's snowing, you only sing when it's snowing !" - Chelsea Choir

"What's it like to play on grass ?" - Chelsea Choir

Those four quotes pretty well summed it up for me. To be honest, I thought we might win 1-0 or possibly 1-1, but never 7-1.

For those poor buggers as didn't get a chance to see it, here are the facts:

It took Chelsea 13 minutes to open the scoring, having dominated the play up till then. Bob Di Matteo pushed the ball out to Den on the wing, Den crossed to the far post where Dan the Man ran on to it with his napper. Great move, but probably would not have resulted in a goal in the Premiership.

Five minutes later, Vialli latched onto the ball just inside the area, his shot hit the keeper and went in. After that we knew it was going to be our night, we had the nap of the table.

That was it until a few minutes before half time, when Tromsų scored, against the run of play. They always looked industrious, and, when they managed to get the ball off Chelsea, looked quite dangerous until the ball got in the last third of the pitch. At any rate, this geezer Johansen, who was definitely their best player, controlled the ball well just outside the area, and his shot was perfectly placed inside the post. Land never stood a chance, that goal was worthy of any league in the World.

There were traces of nervousness after that, mainly transmitted from the crowd, until just before half time. Chelsea were awarded a free kick in Zola territory, and he duly obliged with a perfect chip over the wall into the top right corner of the net. The place absolutely erupted, it was a carnival atmosphere. During the interval there was definitely a buzz going round the place.

Ten minutes after the restart, the game was sealed when Tromsų's Hansen handled the ball in the area. He'd already been booked, so he had to go. Franck Leboeuf took the penalty in his customary no-nonsense fashion - in my opinion there's no-one to touch him in the Premiership on penalties. It was a shame that Tromsų had to battle on with ten men, but I honestly think that Chelsea would have wiped the floor with them if they'd had 12 players on the pitch. The boys were absolutely rampant.

Five minutes later, Vialli popped up with another goal: Dan P had run through Tromsų's defence with Vialli backing him up to his right. As Dan teed his shot up he was fouled by a defender, the ball took a lucky push into Vialli's path, and he did well to score from an acute angle. The ref played the advantage there, it was a penalty anyway. Again, the nap of the table.

We had to wait a disgusting 15 minutes for the next goal, Vialli's hat trick and his best goal. Den hared down the right wing, crossed into the goal mouth, and Vialli rose to head the ball past the keeper. He was absolutely superb on the night, in the right place at the right time like a true predator. If only he could do it in the Premiership.

Dan Petrescu deservedly scored the final goal in the last few minutes. He'd had an excellent game, always looking dangerous. He dribbled the ball past two players in the box, steadied himself and passed the ball into the net. Cue me (and everybody else) going completely nuts, I'd never seen Chelsea score 7 goals before, and I loved it.

It's probably a waste of time comparing this game to the type of match you get in the Premiership. The game was played at a fairly relaxed and patient pace (a pre-requisite in Europe, apparently), and after all Tromsų are part-timers, but if Chelsea played with the sort of composure the showed this evening more often, we'd be hard to beat.

Finally, great respect to Tromsų, who never let their heads drop. I've seen teams give up after being 2 or 3 goals down, but Tromsų were defiant till the end. What's more, they almost scored with the last kick of the game, a thunderous shot from 30 yards that cannoned off the bar, Land completely beaten. Thanks Tromsų for trying, and thanks Chelsea for the pride you showed. A lot of teams would have put up the shutters after going 2 up, but the boys attacked all night. Fantastic.