Hardly the sexiest game of the sᴇxʏ football era under player-manager Ruud Gullit, but the ‘new Chelsea’ was well under way. Summer captures Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo and Frank Lebouef had put the west London side at the forefront of the Premier League’s new foreign invasion.
Their newest continental recruit, a £4.3million signing from Parma the previous week, took to the field for the first time in a bright-yellow No 25 shirt, at least two sizes too big.
Gianfranco Zola holds off Blackburn’s Gary Croft on his Chelsea debut on November 16, 1996
Zola, shooting on his debut, would become one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever imports
Only touches of class were evident in that cagey first game, but in the coming weeks a legend was born.
What Gianfranco Zola went on to achieve at Chelsea and has seldom been repeated by an import to these shores. One of the most technically-gifted players to grace the Premier League, his personality radiated around Stamford Bridge. Being a Chelsea player adored nationwide isn’t an easy feat.
Two decades on, with Chelsea a vastly different prospect than the club Zola joined, his name is still sung just as loudly as any hero from the Roman Abramovich era.
Quite apart from his talent immediately bringing Chelsea up a level, his dedication set him apart. Youngsters watched in awe as he stayed behind after training perfecting the sumptuous free-kicks that became a trademark at Stamford Bridge.
.
Zola turned past West Ham’s Julian Dicks not once but twice for his second Chelsea goal
.
The stunning sᴋɪʟʟ on display flummoxed Dicks and gave Chelsea fans a glimpse of the future
Zola wheels away after putting Chelsea on the way to a 3-1 win over their London rivals
The dedication extended to non-football matters. So determined was he to learn English properly he immediately started reading John Le Carre’s novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Having picked up an understanding of the language, he was dismayed to find the ending confused him. He needn’t have worried – Dennis Wise had cut out the final chapter.
Captain’s pranks notwithstanding, his first few months in England were typified with a simply gorgeous knack of making previously-imperious defenders look incredibly stupid.
West Ham’s Julian Dicks was turned not once but twice in a goal still immortalised in song. Denis Irwin, Gary Pallister and Peter Schmeichel were danced around as if not there, prompting rare congratulations of an opposition player by Alex Ferguson. Wimbledon’s Dean Blackwell was sent halfway down Upper Street with a beautiful piece of improvisation in a Highbury FA Cup semi-final.
Flags boasting ‘Zola Power’ were waved frantically at Wembley for Chelsea’s first major trophy win in 26 years against Middlesbrough. During a nervous game, Zola showcased the two major ingredients of what made him into a true icon of English football.
Chelsea fans wave ‘Zola Power’ flags at Wembley on the way to winning the FA Cup in 1997
The Italian maestro lifts the FA Cup – Chelsea’s first major trophy for 26 years
He set up Eddie Newton’s goal to ᴋɪʟʟ the game with a perfectly-timed backheel, before showing his generosity and warmth in insisting he come off two minutes from time for compatriot Vialli, desperate to play under the twin towers.
His Football Writers’ Player of the Year award for that debut season was testament to his impact having only arrived a third of the way through the campaign.
A year later he helped Chelsea to another trophy – the European Cup Winners’ Cup. A more frustrating season, hampered by injury, ended with his greatest moment in a blue shirt.
Zola shoots with his second touch to score against Stuttgart and win the Cup Winners’ Cup
Zola holds aloft the trophy with compatriot Vialli, the second time Chelsea had won the cup
His second touch of the ball in the Stockholm final, after running on to a perfectly-weighted Wise pass, was a smash into the roof of the net to provide a 1-0 win over Stuttgart and the club’s second victory in the competition – the late 1990s side emulating Peter Osgood, Charlie Cooke and Co in 1971.
If Zola had left that summer, his place in Chelsea folklore would have still been assured. Still to come, though, was spearheading an ultimately-doomed title challenge that saw Chelsea – now managed by Vialli – finish four points behind winners Manchester United, followed by the club’s first-ever Champions League campaign and another FA Cup win.
While not always an automatic choice in his later years – he was about to turn 37 when he finally left the club – his presence endured.
Latter-day heroes John Terry and Frank Lampard can endlessly recount Zola’s influence on their early careers at Stamford Bridge.
Zola (right) trains with John Terry, who pays tribute to the Italian’s influence on his career
‘When he came his professionalism stood out. He was such a big name in world football but he really took to the younger players,’ Terry said last week.
‘I was only 16, doing my YTS, but he had so much time for everyone. He always wanted to help us younger players and give us advice.
‘He set high standards at the club, he didn’t accept people not working hard or not trying, and obviously when you have players like Gianfranco around it naturally lifts the quality and intensity of the sessions.
‘Even after training he’d grab a bag of balls, call you over as a young defender and run at you, twisting, turning and leaving you in tangles. It was all a learning curve, though, because he would step in and tell you where to position your body to make it more difficult for the striker. He was always offering advice.’
That’s not to say there wasn’t magic on the pitch right until the end. Perhaps his most famously artistic goal was a backheel against Norwich in the FA Cup in 2002, while his final season at Chelsea was one of the best Indian summers ever seen in the Premier League.
Zola netted a career-high 14 league goals in 2002-03, his final strike being a typically deft lob over Everton keeper Richard Wright on the edge of the penalty area.
His last appearance fittingly came in one of the most important games in the club’s history. His role in a 2-1 win over Liverpool was restricted to a cameo at the end of the game, yet he still found time to delight the crowd a final time by dribbling around four opposition players near the corner flag.
One of Zola’s most famous goals came in the FA Cup against Norwich, an incredible backheel
.
Zola instinctively flicked a short corner into the near post while in mid-air
Zola celebrates with Chelsea team-mates and a fan after the incredible backheel
The win meant that the then-penniless Chelsea, and not Liverpool, finished fourth and qualified for the next season’s Champions League. Originally, it was thought this might just keep the quickly-advancing debtors at bay.
Little did anyone know a certain Russian was about to swoop in. Abramovich’s eye was caught by Stamford Bridge’s fashionable west London location, but most of all the club’s ready-made Champions League status.
But while the most significant development in the club’s history was taking place, the man soon to be voted their greatest-ever player left for his native Sardinia.
Abramovich was desperate to keep Zola at the club to the point of offering to buy his boyhood club and destination Cagliari, as well. But, true to his word until the end, the 5 foot 6 man with the unfeasibly large smile reluctantly said he couldn’t go back on his promise to return home.
Even 13 years later, after winning every trophy on offer and countless players that would trouble anyone’s ‘greatest’ list, Zola has never been replaced. The unique blend of passion and professionalism, peerless, instinctive technique and wonderful warmth and spirit doesn’t come along often.
Zola bids a fond farewell to the Stamford Bridge crowd at a specially-arranged tribute game
Chelsea were now on the world stage. His work was done.
He did, however, return to the Bridge the following summer for a tribute game specially arranged by Abramovich. His on-pitch farewell to the crowd was typically an exercise in humility:
‘I will treasure this experience, it made me better as a player and as a man. Thank you for letting me come here and do a few tricks.’
MORE TRENDING