Football: Italian hitmen set for Wembley reunion

Gianluca Vialli was a peripheral figure in Chelsea's last cup final. Tomorrow will be different, writes Mike Rowbottom

GIANLUCA VIALLI'S cameo appearance in the last few minutes of the 1997 FA Cup final seemed to come as much by public request as anything else.

Before he left the arena, he made a very obvious point of applauding the fans who had so insistently demanded his appear- ance. To many it seemed as if the 33-year-old Italian was making his farewells after a season in which, to his patent frustration, he had been rotated in - but mostly out - of the team.

Even Vialli thought it might be goodbye. "I wasn't sure if I would be part of Chelsea the following season, and I wanted to thank the supporters because I had a special..."

Someone supplied the word "rapport" and he nodded.

How curious then, that 10 months later, Vialli should find himself in something akin to a Groundhog Day. Tomorrow's Coca-Cola Cup final sees him back in the same place, faced with the same team, and able to make the occasion dramatically better for himself. The question remains - will Chelsea's player-manager give himself the nod?

Mark Hughes, one of four forwards including Vialli who have had to accept the inherent frustrations of Chelsea's squad rotation system, was in no doubt yesterday what action he would take if he were in the same position. "If I was him, I wouldn't leave myself out," Hughes said with a broadening grin. "I'd be the first one on the team sheet!"

Vialli, however, has wider considerations now. The man who used to amuse himself on the training ground by capturing his farts in cupped hands and releasing them into his team-mates' faces has had to alter his act since taking charge from Ruud Gullit last month.

Asked if he felt he should give himself a Wembley chance, he replied: "No. I have to give Chelsea a chance." Managerial, or what?

"If it means in my opinion that I have to play, I will," he added. "Otherwise I will sit on the bench, because the only thing I care about is Chelsea and not myself as a player. Whatever happens, I will have my game."

For all Chelsea's cup success in his charge - next on their fixture list is Thursday's European Cup-Winners' Cup semi-final at Vicenza - Vialli is not taking anything for granted against a Middlesbrough side which looks eminently capable of returning straight back to the Premiership.

"It won't be easy," he Vialli. "I think we are good enough to win the game, but Middlesbrough can say the same. It will be a very tight game." Managerial, or what?

The presence in Middlesbrough's side of two fellow Italians, Branca and Festa, is one which Vialli openly acknowledges as a threat. "To be honest, when I play against Italian footballers I am always very aware, because I know that Branca and Festa and players like them can always cope with these important games. They can be decisive and I would rather not play against them."

He also acknowledged the potential danger of the man who remains an honorary Italian to Lazio supporters. "He is one of those players who, all of a sudden, with a bit of magic, can change the game," Vialli said of Paul Gascoigne, whom he witnessed at first hand while playing for Lazio for Juventus.

"The problem with players like Gascoigne is that you become so afraid of them you forget about playing your own game. This would be dramatic for us. Terrible. So we have to give Gascoigne and Branca special attention, but we have to play like Chelsea usually play."

A large part of that style, Vialli is careful to point out, is down to the work of his predecessor. "I have to be honest enough and recognise that if we are at Wembley it is also because of what Ruud Gullit did at the beginning of the season, because he brought the team up to the semi- final."

The pressure which he has inherited from the Dutchman is something with which Vialli is still coming to terms. "Things are getting better," he said. "If you get used to something the pressure gets lower, so I need time to come down. But now I'm calm and relaxed. I know it's difficult. When we lose I'm the saddest man in the world. But football is just a game, and this is something we must all remember."

Tomorrow's team is already in Vialli's head, but he will not disclose it to his players until shortly before the kick-off. Tense times then for Chelsea's forward alternates. Tore Andre Flo, has invited 25 relatives and friends from Norway to watch what would be his first Wembley appearance. Gianfranco Zola, newly returned to goalscoring form, needs to make a good impression in a game that will be televised in Italy to strengthen his claim to a World Cup place.

And Hughes is clearly desperate to play in what would be a 10th and possibly last Wembley cup final of his career.

Who would be a player-manager taking those decisions? Vialli would. "It is something exciting and new," he said. "Something I want to do. It is wonderful thing to think that after 17 years of football playing I am still having such a wonderful feeling. I know that I am very lucky."