Dan Petrescu was the match-winner ten minutes into the second half, moving on to Chris Sutton's pass to fire home at the second attempt with his left foot after substitute goalkeeper Bolukbasi Mehmet parried his first effort.

A red card for Galatasaray's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel had earlier helped Chelsea's cause and again Petrescu was the architect. The Brazilian keeper was sent off after handling his chip yards outside his penalty area 12 minutes before half-time.

The Romanian midfielder latched on to Gianfranco Zola's pass and beat Taffarel to the ball, but the Brazilian instinctively put his hands up and received the relevant red card penalty.

There were pitch-invaders and a near Chris Sutton goal to excite the fans in the first half. Two people invaded the pitch - from a Chelsea supporters' section, carrying a political banner - yet were denied their ultimate moment of glory when Dennis Wise, who else, tackled the pair before they were inevitably ejected by security.

The Sutton effort was not at the right end. The out-of-form Chelsea striker almost put through his own net in the sixth minute, when a left-wing corner from Erdem Arif was headed back into the goalmouth by Capone. Sutton desperately threw himself at the ball only to see his flying header flash goalwards where goalkeeper Ed De Goey had to punch clear.

Chelsea had to keep a keen eye on mercurial genius Gheorghe Hagi. The Romanian star found Arif with a sublime pass but the striker - hat-trick hero for Turkey against Northern Ireland last month - fired wide, and again failed to score with a more difficult volley after another inventive ball from Hagi, who later tested De Goey with a typical free-kick.

The striker was sacrificed when Taffarel's misjudgement was penalised and twenty-one-year-old Bolukbasi Mehmet took over in goal.

This gave Chelsea new momentum and Petrescu narrowly failed to connect with a Gabriele Ambrosetti cross and then saw a header well saved. And Sutton was having one of those nights, seeing Mehmet make a good save to his right early in the second half.

The second-half saw more concern for Vialli, as first Marcel Desailly limped off just after the hour and Chelsea missed a series of chances to tie the game up, though the ten-men of Galatasaray could not seriously threaten De Goey's goal themselves.

Zola twice, substitute Gustavo Poyet and Petrescu again all failed narrowly before Zola struck a post with his own free-kick masterclass. Then Wise had a strong claim for a spot-kick turned down when tackled by substitute Belozoglu Emre.

Chelsea: De Goey, Ferrer, Desailly (Hogh 62), Leboeuf, Babayaro, Petrescu, Wise, Morris, Ambrosetti (Poyet 52), Sutton (Flo 84), Zola.
Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Le Saux, Lambourde, Forssell.
Goals: Petrescu 55.