Testament: Chelsea vs Leeds, 13th December 1997

The beginning was innocuous. At a Chelsea corner in the second minute, referee Graham Poll told Gary Kelly and Bruno Ribeiro to get ten yards away from the ball. There must have been only inches between them, but eventually Poll booked Kelly for not moving back as far as Ribeiro. So that was one.

Jimmy Hasselbaink had already caused trouble in front of the benches by pretending Dan Petrescu's arm had struck his face, and now the game was on. "Obviously George Graham wound them up before the game," Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair said later, "because they came out and they were trying to kick us all over the gaff."

Leeds United boss Graham denied that. But he had switched to a three-player defence so Lucas Radebe could mark Gianfranco Zola, and that process began with a scything tackle through the back of Zola in the seventh minute. It earned Radebe the game's second booking and wasn't far from a red, and as he tried to pick Zola up while Chelsea players ran over to protest, raised the temperature at Stamford Bridge.

The days before the game had been spent looking back with fondness at the good old days when tackles like these were the norm. On Thursday, Billy Bremner's life had been celebrated, following his shock early passing. Hundreds attended the funeral, including old opponents like Nobby Stiles, who was ready to stand outside the church to pay his respects on a freezing December day in Doncaster but was ushered inside, as welcome as anyone. The group drinking at Peter Lorimer's pub in Leeds later was more select, Bobby Collins, Johnny Giles, Jimmy Lumsden and others from the Revie family holding court until the early hours.

If a way of playing had gone by with Bremner, nobody had told Leeds and Chelsea. Roberto Di Matteo sent Alfie Haaland flying in midfield, then Frank Sinclair clattered David Robertson on the wing. That was just a throw-in, but the break gave Di Matteo time to turn a running war of words with Haaland into an off the ball shove, which Haaland willingly upgraded with a firm kick to the shins. Neither went down but Poll, deciding he didn't want to see what they had to do to knock each other over, gave them both yellow cards.

Now Haaland's midfield partner Ribeiro was ready. Poll actually let him off with a warning for a two-footed swipe through Dennis Wise's legs, despite Graeme Le Saux's disbelieving laughter when he was unable to persuade the ref to show a card. There was audible tension in the crowd like you'd get at a boxing match, waiting to see who would launch the next assault, and as Hasselbaink, Haaland and Rod Wallace closed on a loose ball, Michael Duberry obliged.