Football: Chelsea given Wise counsel

Dennis Wise leads Chelsea back into the European arena again tonight convinced the Cup-Winners' Cup is there for them to win.

While Chelsea's last continental campaign was only three seasons ago, the captain is the only survivor certain of his place in Ruud Gullit's team against Slovan Bratislava.

Three years ago Glenn Hoddle's side were beaten in the last four by the eventual winners, Real Zaragoza, and Wise admitted: "We didn't expect to go as far as we did then. We had an OK squad then but the one we've got now is very strong. When you look round the squad and see the quality we've got, we really feel we can win it."

Gullit is set to utilise his range of options, with Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo coming back.

The Slovakian side, who lost a number of their best players after a cash crisis last term, are also former Cup-Winners' Cup winners, having beaten Barcelona in the 1969 final in Basle. Their main danger man is the Slovakian international midfielder Robert Tomaschek.