28/09/2000  St Gallen 2 Chelsea 0 (Agg: 2-1)
 
The Swiss champions rocked the Blues with first-half goals from Sascha Muller 
and Charles Amoah and Ranieri's players could not respond.

A 2-0 win on the night put the home team through 2-1 on aggregate and ended 
Chelsea's interest in a competition they were highly fancied to win.

Chelsea's night was made worse by a sickening injury to Roberto Di Matteo who 
was stretchered from the pitch in terrible pain between St Gallen's first half 
goals.

The 30-year-old midfielder broke his left leg in an innocuous clash with 
Daniel Imhof and needed four minutes of treatment on the field before being 
carried to the dressing rooms.

It is the latest in a catalogue of setbacks for the 30-year-old Italian 
international, who was born in Switzerland and hoping to dazzle back on home 
soil.

An ankle operation and a broken arm meant Di Matteo missed chunks of last 
season and he now faces a severe battle to comeback after another serious 
injury.

The evening started badly when Dennis Wise lost his fitness fight. Graeme Le 
Saux was again handed the captain's armband but the joy of an England recall was 
quickly soured by Chelsea's first-half display.

Two first-half goals swung the game on its head and Di Matteo's injury gave 
the Blues another problem on what should have been a straightforward UEFA Cup 
first round tie.

Claudio Ranieri had watched from the stand two weeks ago when Christian 
Panucci scored the goal which earned Chelsea a 1-0 lead to take to Switzerland.

The new boss then declared himself happy with the spirit shown in Saturday's 
3-3 draw at Manchester United, in his first game at the helm, but Chelsea's 
recent problems have usually occurred in less glamorous surroundings.

And sure enough, at Zurich's Hardturm Stadium, borrowed by St Gallen for UEFA 
dates because their own ground does not meet regulations, Ranieri's troops again 
fell foul of their familiar curse.

Tennis star Martina Hingis was in the crowd to cheer on St Gallen and the she 
saw a vibrant first-half performance from the Swiss champions which left the 
London millionaires reeling in Zurich.

A lunging challenge from Winston Bogarde, in for the injured Marcel Desailly, 
denied Gane in the fifth minute and the same player fired wide again, moments 
later.

Carlo Cudicini flew to his right to tip a Muller piledriver wide but the St 
Gallen midfielder broke the deadlock in the 19th minute when he linked-up with 
Charles Amoah, sliced into the penalty area and slid the ball into the bottom 
corner.

Jairo went close and Amoah doubled the lead in the 35th minute, converting 
Gane's right-wing cross at the back-post with Ranieri's defenders all at sea 
again.

Ranieri re-adjusted at half-time. Rati Aleksidze came on for Christian Panucci 
and Chelsea abandoned the three-pronged strike-force they used before the 
break.

Flo dropped back to the right of midfield but was soon replaced by Eidur 
Gudjohnsen.

The Blues immediately looked happier, however, and started to test St Gallen 
keeper Jorg Stiel.

Gianfranco Zola's shot was too hot for him to hold in the 55th minute but Flo 
couldn't keep the rebound down while Stiel saved from Dalla Bona and Aleksidze 
sent an effort dipping over before rattling the bar in the 73rd minute.

The ecstatic Swiss crowd thought Amoah had bagged his second, two minutes from 
time but his effort was ruled out for offside giving the home team an anxious 
few moments to survive before the final whistle.

But Chelsea could not find a way back against a side rated as 600-1 shots to 
win the competition and Ranieri watched glumly from the touchline as Zurich 
erupted into a party.