"..And the Blues go marching ON ON ON !"

You'll have to excuse any inaccuracies in this report, owing to the fact that we were seated in the Matthew Harding Stand lower tier, right behind the goal. Superb for atmosphere but not much good for seeing anything that wasn't happening within 15 yards of us.

We arrived late, just as the teams emerged (that's bang on time - Ed), and were amazed to see that the travelling Vålerenga fans had completely filled the bottom tier of the East Stand, and were performing what can only be described as a mass knees-up, jigging up and down and generally having a great time. All credit to them, they brought more fans than most Premiership clubs (although they were probably offered more tickets), and they certainly gave it some welly on the night, even when they were 3-0 down.

We were amazed for a second time when we saw that the Vålerenga team appeared to have been chosen for their size - the top of Franco Zola's head came just below the waistband of their centre forward's shorts, and even people like Desailly and Baba were dwarfed by most of their players. This was an ominous sign, as Chelsea have, in the past, come unstuck when we've faced players of such physical stature playing the long ball game. However, it was soon obvious that they'd come to defend, with only the occasional hoof towards their lone striker, the biggest of the lot. Desailly cancelled him out completely, playing what I thought was one of his best games for Chelsea.

Egil Olsen's tactics, which were to defend in strength and try to catch us on the break, were the same as all the other European teams' when playing the away leg. Predictable and boring, but they all do it. This time it didn't work, and it was largely down to the fact that they were allowing the Chelsea players too much space. It was really noticeable how the likes of Le Saux, Babayaro, Di Matteo and Zola were allowed time on the ball, and they soon made Vålerenga pay for this basic error. The passing was a joy to behold, even from our low angle, none more so than Zola's inch perfect through ball to Babayaro, who controlled the ball and shot from a wide angle past Finnish International keeper Kaven. My attempt to emulate Baba's victory flip was universally condemned in the Matthew Harding stand, but there you go..

Minutes later Chelsea almost had the ball in the net again, but Vialli's shot, which had beaten the keeper, was cleared off the line. Chelsea kept up the smooth passing and intelligent running, and with twenty minutes we were two up, this time from Franco Zola, who ran on to a killer pass from Baba and squeezed the ball, left footed, past Kaven. It looked for all the world like it was going to be a massacre, but as is often the case with Chelsea, they took their feet off the gas, and, almost immediately from the restart, Vålerenga were unlucky not to score.

Half time saw Franco Zola replaced by Tore Andre Flo, but Chelsea couldn't seem to get the same smooth flow as they'd been able to do in the first half. We were furious, as the goals thus far had been scored at the other end, and we were hoping to watch the net billow a few times at our end, only a few feet away as it was. We had to wait until a few minutes from the end to get our wish, but there were a couple of near misses of note before that, especially one from Robbie Di Matteo, who was put through on goal by a lovely chip from Vialli, but his shot was deflected just wide by the keeper. SuperDan also headed just wide with an open goal before him, and Graeme Le Saux was so close when put through after a glorious one-two with Vialli, but again the keeper just foiled him.

Finally, just as we were thinking that we were doomed not to see a goal in front of us, up pops Den and puts it right. Le Saux crossed from the left, Tore Andre chested it down, and fortunate and unmarked Den tucked it away inside the post. There could have been a suspicion of offside, but the flag stayed down.

Players of note were Baba, who was on fire, jinking and ducking past defenders, passing beautifully and defending strongly when needed. Robbie Di Matteo also had a great game, and it looks like he's approaching good form again, at last. Bernard Lambourde and Desailly were magnificent in the heart of the defence, completely smothering any attack that Vålerenga could mount, for the most part. Lambourde in particular has impressed me this season when he's managed to get a game.

I thought at the time that Vialli had a poor game by his standards, but his contribution was more subtle; for instance, it was his decoy run that drew defenders away from Zola for his goal, and he was obviously worrying and distracting the Vålerenga defence with his intelligent running and neat flicks and one-twos. The fact that he couldn't seem to score in a brothel is, in hindsight, immaterial, although it was frustrating to watch.

SuperDan was excellent, as usual, with his strong running on the ball and constant attempts to get a shot or header in on goal, while Dennis Wise played a considerable part as a provider, plus his goal. It was good to see Bertie Ferrer back in the thick of it. I reckon he's the best right back we've had since the early seventies. Graeme Le Saux also had a blinder down the left wing - let's hope that the Fowler business won't see him get too lengthy a ban. We need him on the pitch.

Flo was quiet by his standards, but displayed good skill on the ball. Franco Zola was his usual brilliant self, enough said. The second leg will no doubt be a lot more difficult than this was, but on the evidence of last night Chelsea will edge it.

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