The 1998 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 29 March 1998 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. Chelsea, under new manager Gianluca Vialli, won with two extra time goals and won the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

later that season. Middlesbrough's second consecutive defeat in the final was followed by promotion back to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

after just one season. Both teams were restricted to shots from distance. This all changed in extra time when Chelsea took control.

Frank Sinclair Frank Mohammed Sinclair (born 3 December 1971) is an English-born Jamaican former professional football player and manager and current coach at Doncaster Rovers. He made 756 league and cup appearances in a 25-year playing career, scoring 27 g ...

, a villain in the

1994 FA Cup Final The 1994 FA Cup Final was an association football match that took place on 14 May 1994 at Wembley Stadium in London to determine the winner of the 1993–94 FA Cup. It was contested between Chelsea and Manchester United. Four goals in the sec ...

defeat when conceding a penalty and slipping to allow Mark Hughes to score, became the hero in this match. He started the move that ended with his header finding the corner of the Middlesbrough net to open the scoring. Chelsea's second goal came from

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chels ...

. A corner played into the near post was not cleared by the Boro defence and Di Matteo was able to side foot the ball into the net on the half-volley. Di Matteo had come back to haunt Middlesbrough as he had scored the opening goal when the same sides met in the

1997 FA Cup Final The 1997 FA Cup Final was the 116th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium and was contested by Chelsea and Middlesbrough, the North East club appearing in its first FA Cup Final. Chelsea won 2–0 to win the FA Cu ...

the previous season. Once again Chelsea had won 2–0.

Road to Wembley

Match facts

{{DEFAULTSORT:Football League Cup Final 1998

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

League Cup Final 1998 League Cup Final 1998 1997–98 Football League March 1998 sports events in Europe 1998 sports events in London