CHELSEA'S French defender Frank Leboeuf is confidently predicting victory over Germany's VfB Stuttgart in tonight's Cup Winners' Cup Final in Stockholm. I honestly think we're a better side than they are, said Leboeuf, on the eve of what could be one of the most glorious nights in Chelsea's illustrious history. We just have to prove it out on the pitch. They're a typical German side; solid, organised and disciplined. But they have weaknesses and I think our biggest advantage is that we have players on the bench who are every bit as good as the players who start the game. I think our strength in depth could be the key to success. Leboeuf, who has been inspirational in the heart of the Blues' back line all season, thinks their chances of lifting the trophy have been significantly boosted by Uruguayan midfielder Gustavo Poyet's return from a long-term knee injury. Gustavo's a great player, with a brilliant attitude to the game and excellent technical abilities, he said. I actually blame him for us not winning the championship. If he'd been fit all season we would have been in with a definite chance! But he'll certainly give us a boost for this game. The game is very important to everyone at the club, Lebouef continued. We've had a great run to the final and we've ridden our luck on a couple of occasions. We were fortunate when we played Tromso away in an earlier round that we had Gianluca Vialli playing like a man possessed. He scored two and rescued us from what could have been a tricky situation when things were looking bad for us. Only losing 3-2 away from home was a pretty good result considering the atrocious snowy conditions we were playing in. "But the memories of this competition will only be good if we go on to lift the trophy. I played in Europe with my old club Strasbourg and we were beaten by AC Milan both home and away. That's something I've tried to forget about ever since. And I won't be looking back on our exploits during this cup run with anything other than disappointment if we lose tonight.

FINAL FACTS AND FIGURES   The finalists' paths to tonight's Cup-Winners' Cup Final: CHELSEA 1st Rd v Slovan Bratislava: W 2-0 (Di Matteo, Granville); W 0-2 (Vialli, Di Matteo) 2nd Rd v Tromso: L 3-2 (Vialli 2); W 7-1 (Petrescu 2, Vialli 3, Zola, Leboeuf pen) 3rd Rd v Real Betis: W 1-2 (Flo 2); W 3-1 (Sinclair, Di Matteo, Zola) Semi-final v Vicenza: L 1-0; W 3-1 (Poyet, Zola, M Hughes) Scorers: Vialli 6, Di Matteo and Zola 3, Petrescu and Flo 2, Granville, Leboeuf, Sinclair, Poyet and M Hughes 1 VfB STUTTGART 1st Rd v IB Vestmannaeyjar: W 1-3 (Bobic 2, Akpoborie); W 2-1 (Akpoborie 2) 2nd Rd v Germinal Ekeren: W 0-4 (Bobic 2, Akpoborie 2); L 2-4 (Verlaat, Poschner) 3rd Rd v Slavia Prague: D 1-1 (Poschner); W 2-0 (Balakov 2) Semi-final v Lokomotiv Moscow: W 2-1 (Yakin, Bobic); W 0-1 (Bobic) Scorers: Bobic 6, Akpoborie 5, Poschner and Balakov 2, Verlaat and Yakin 1 If Chelsea win tonight, it will make England the most successful nation in the history of the European Cup-Winners' Cup. English clubs have won the tournament seven times so far, tied with Spain. Other wins: 6 Italy; 5 Germany (inc East Germany); 3 Belgium; 2 Scotland, Ukraine*; 1 Portugal, Slovakia*, Georgia*, Holland, France (* denotes representing different countries at the time) English clubs have appeared in the final a total of 12 times before tonight: 1963 Tottenham 5 Atletico Madrid 1 (Rotterdam) 1965 West Ham 2 Munich 1860 0 (Wembley) 1966 Borussia Dortmund 2 Liverpool 1 (Hampden) 1970 Manchester City 2 Gornik Zabrze 1 (Vienna) 1971 Chelsea 1 Real Madrid 1 (Athens) Rep Chelsea 2 Real Madrid 1 (Athens) 1973 AC Milan 1 Leeds 0 (Salonika) 1976 Anderlecht 4 West Ham 2 (Brussels) 1980 Valencia 0 Arsenal 0 (Brussels; Valencia won 5-4 on pens) 1985 Everton 3 Rapid Vienna 1 (Rotterdam) 1991 Manchester United 2 Barcelona 1 (Rotterdam) 1994 Arsenal 1 Parma 0 (Copenhagen) 1995 Real Zaragoza 2 Arsenal 1 (Paris)

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