GUSTAFO POYET will count himself doubly lucky as he lines up for Chelsea in their European Cup-Winners' Cup final against VfB Stuttgart tonight. Lucky to be there at all after a dreadful career-threatening injury - and lucky that Chelsea are not still managed by one Glenn Hoddle. The Uruguayan midfielder considers Hoddle's Stamford Bridge era tactically naive and rates it a minor miracle the present line has advanced so much in the three years since the coach left to take over England. As if our national boss did not have enough to contend with keeping tabs on Paul Gascoigne's nicotine habit in the build up to the World Cup, now he finds himself under attack from one of the Real Zaragoza players who ended the Blues' bid to lift the Cup-Winners' Cup in 1995. For Poyet, Ruud Gullit's shrewd free signing last summer and now back in the first team just five months after shattering his cruciate ligaments, remembers only too well the ease with which Zaragoza overcame Chelsea in their two-leg semi-final clash, before beating Arsenal in the final. "When I played in that game, the Chelsea team was so different to the one which I am now playing in," he recalled. "All they seemed to have were these two big forwards - and all they did was just pump these big long balls towards them. They were nowhere is as good as the current side, whose style ability to pass is so much better." The fact Poyet is even in Stockholm to face Stuttgart is amazing considering doctors told him he would not play again until next season at earliest when he snapped his cruciates. But, along with Gianfrano Zola, also dismissed as a non-starter after a groin strain three weeks ago, the dangerous attacking midfielder has boosted Gianluca Vialli's options. Poyet went on: "I'm delighted to have the chance to play in this final after a terrible time. But the Chelsea supporters, who kept telling me I would make it, are the best in the world and I have to say they make this final all the more important to win because it means so much to them. The injury was the worst a player can have and when I saw my absent months adding up I thought I was finished for the season." Meanwhile Vialli yesterday urged his players for one final flourish to turn an excellent season into an extraordinary one . The player/coach confirmed he has the backing of chairman Ken Bates and managing director to buy more world-class talent and said that repeating the club's 1971 Cup Winners' Cup success would attract the top names. Vialli, confident Brian Laudrup will arrive despite Rangers claiming £6million is owed for the free agent striker, declared: "I hope we can improve year after year. That is what I badly want and that's the job the club expects me to do. I'm very positive. I think the future can be even better than now and winning this final will give everybody that same confidence. We can make an excellent season an extraordinary one. We are already one of England's best teams but I want to show we can become the best in Europe.'' On Zola, a fellow Italian with the dynamic skills to unlock their German opponents, he confirmed he trusts the player to assess his own fitness. "I'm very happy to have Franco back." he admitted. "He has got over his injury much quicker than I expected and it means he can be another weapon for us. It is an important game especially for him as he wants to prove to he is one of Italy's best men for the World Cup.'' Zola's return, though, looks sure to confine Mark Hughes return to the bench despite his match-winning heroics in the semi-final against Vicenza. Frank Sinclair is out with his groin strain but Graeme Le Saux is hopeful of being fit after a calf problem. Whatever, Chelsea start favourites against a Stuttgart club reportedly in turmoil. Coach Joachim Low is facing the sack because powerful club president Gerhardt Maier-Vorseider considers him too soft. Like Chelsea, the Germans came fourth in their League this year but their nerves are frayed as Crassimar Balakov's punch-up with a journalist on the plane to Stockholm showed. And while striker Frederic Bobic has been left out of Germnay's squad, key defenders Martin Spandring and skipper Frank Verlaat are suspended tonight.

MEN WHO'VE FACED THE FINAL FRONTIER BEFORE   IN THE 43 years since European club competition began, Chelsea have played in only one final until tonight. Gianluca Vialli, by contrast, has been a professional for 15 years, and will tonight play in his eighth final. This will be the Chelsea player/manager's third final in the Cup-Winners' Cup alone. He lost with Sampdoria in 1989 before winning with the same team 12 months later. Here are Vialli's eight European finals: 1989 Cup-Winners' Cup: Barcelona 2 SAMPDORIA 0 1990 Cup-Winners' Cup: SAMPDORIA 2 Anderlecht 0 (Vialli scored both goals, in extra-time) 1990 European Super Cup: AC Milan 3 SAMPDORIA 1 (over two legs) 1992 European Cup: Barcelona 1 SAMPDORIA 0 (after extra-time) 1993 UEFA Cup: JUVENTUS 6 Borussia Dortmund 1 (over two legs) 1995 UEFA Cup: Parma 2 JUVENTUS 1 (Vialli scored in second leg) 1996 European Cup: JUVENTUS 1 Ajax 1 Juventus won 4-2 on penalties; Vialli was captain 1998 Cup-Winners' Cup: CHELSEA v VfB Stuttgart Four other members of Vialli's squad have appeared in European finals: DAN PETRESCU 1989 European Cup: AC Milan 4 STEAUA BUCHAREST 0 MARK HUGHES 1991 Cup-Winners' Cup: MAN UTD 2 Barcelona 1 (Hughes scored both) GIANFRANCO ZOLA 1994 Cup-Winners' Cup: Arsenal 1 PARMA 0 1995 UEFA Cup: PARMA 2 Juventus 1 GUSTAVO POYET (Real Zaragoza) 1995 Cup-Winners' Cup: REAL ZARAGOZA 2 Arsenal 1 (after extra time)

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