CarlingNet - No 1 for Match Reports

Chelsea v Middlesbrough 21/08/96 7.45

Chelsea                 (0) 1 Middlesbrough           (0) 0 FT
Di Matteo 86

Roberto Di Matteo upstaged his fellow Italian hit-men to give Ruud Gullit's new-look Chelsea side a last-gasp first victory against unlucky Middlesbrough.

Stamford Bridge had gorged itself on the most extravagant assembly of foreign talent ever seen on a Premiership pitch, but was resigned to leaving unsatisfied.

The combined talents of Juninho, Emerson and, of course, former Juventus Champions Cup winning partnership Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravenelli were struggling to conjure a goal from the feast of football.

But with just five minutes left, Di Matteo, the £4.9m record signing from Lazio, burst forward onto Mark Hughes' Wise's cross from the left and crashed a dipping 25 yard right-footer deep into Alan Miller's right-hand corner to crown his home debut; not bad for a player who only scored twice in Serie A last season.

It left Middlesbrough still with only one win on this ground in 58 years but encouraged by the massive strides Bryan Robson's side have made since the 5-0 humiliation he suffered here just six months ago.

They deserved so much more for a full contribution to the pace and passing range, imagination and intuition, control and confidence that enthralled 28,272 lucky souls packed into a ground that is now half a building site.

That they went home empty-handed was largely down to another of Gullit's instant imported hits, former Strasbourg sweeper Frank Leboeuf.

He was the rock on which so much of Boro's play foundered, the cool Frenchman reading everything, sweeping up the runs and passes, keeping a cool head when others were panicking.

Fabrizio Ravanelli, who plundered a hat-trick from Liverpool on Saturday, got almost no change from him.

His presence, along with Gianluca Vialli, brought half of Rome's press corps to West London for their first head to head on English soil since Juve surprisingly off-loaded them both in the summer after their Champions Cup triumph.

Vialli has always been the more eye-catching of the pair and his exquisite touch released Wise in the eighth minute for a cross that just bobbled away from Mark Hughes with the goal seemingly at his mercy.

He would surely have been clear through on goal if Nigel Pearson had not pulled him back from di Matteo's pass in the 20th minute and the Boro skipper was lucky the card Gary Willard showed him was only yellow.

The 32-year-old was just a toe-cap away from connecting with Wise's cross soon after and then played his part in the build-up to the closest we came to a first half goal in the 28th minute.

He set up Wise for a curled cross, vollied towards the top corner by the outstretched foot of Di Matteo from 12 yards, but somehow the flailing Alan Miller flipped it over the bar one-handed.

But Vialli's sublime moment came just before the break, an acrobatic leap to keep in play a Dan Petrescu cross sailing over his head, then recovering in time to volley the falling ball into the side netting.

Ravanelli, a more English-style centre forward in the willing, hard-working style, presented himself as a solid target man for the runs of Juninho and Emerson the `silver fox' happy to bide his time.

But when his chance came in the 34th minute, racing away onto Derek Whyte's clearance with the flag staying down, the predatory touch let him down, his low-angled shot skidding wide of a relieved Dmitri Kharine's far post.

Gullit's bravery in throwing 17-year-old Jody Morris into this classy maelstrom on his first start paid off too, the teenager, who made his debut as substitute against Boro last season, probing at the visiting defence with a passing assurance to match any of the imports.

Di Matteo was booked after trying to hold back Juninho by his shirt, and then Hughes was cautioned for a mismatched pushing spat with the little Brazilian after a muscular tussle with Emerson.

Again it was Vialli who came closest to breaking the deadlock as it endured in the second half, a fierce shot blocked in the 75th minute and his follow-up clawed aside by Miller.

Hughes should have scored after di Matteo gave him an unblinkered sight of goal from Steve Vickers' horrendous pass but he hooked his shot over and then young Morris missed a great chance to cover himself in glory.

Chelsea fans were beginning to reflect gloomily that new boss but same old story it took Chelsea four games to score their first goal last season when up popped Di Matteo.