PLAYER-MANAGER = GIANLUCA VIALLI. # 9.
Gullit was sacked in February 1998 and 33-year-old Vialli was appointed
player-manager. Chelsea were already in the semi-finals of the
League Cup and the quarter finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, and went on to win both competitions under Vialli, as well as finishing 4th in the
Premier League. In beating
VfB Stuttgart at the Cup Winners' Cup
final on 13 May 1998, 33 years and 308 days old Vialli became the youngest manager to ever win a UEFA competition. The record stood for thirteen years until 18 May 2011 when FC Porto's
André Villas-Boas won the Europa League at the age of 33 years and 213 days. Coincidentally, Villas-Boas would eventually go on to manage Chelsea.
The following season Chelsea won the
European Super Cup by beating
Real Madrid 1–0, and finished 3rd in the Premier League, just four points behind champions
Manchester United in what was Chelsea's highest league finish since 1970. Vialli made his final competitive appearance for the club against
Derby County at the end of that season (a game in which he scored),[SUP]
[1][/SUP] finishing his Chelsea career with 83 appearances and 40 goals.
The following season saw Chelsea reach the quarter-finals of the
Champions League on their debut in the competition, the highlight of which was a 3–1
quarterfinal first leg victory over
FC Barcelona, although they were eventually knocked out on aggregate following a 5-1 return leg loss at
Camp Nou that needed extra time. Despite a disappointing 5th place finish in the Premier League, the campaign ended on a high note when Vialli guided Chelsea to a win over
Aston Villa in the
2000 FA Cup final.
The
2000–01 season started brightly, with Chelsea beating Manchester United to win the
FA Charity Shield, Vialli's fifth official trophy with the club in less than three years, making him the club's most successful manager at the time. But Vialli was sacked five games into the season after an indifferent start and having fallen out with several players, including
Gianfranco Zola,
Didier Deschamps and
Dan Petrescu.