Cup Winners' Cup · 1971
Chelsea 13, Jeunesse Hautcharage 0
The cup holders against a village team of steelworkers, railwaymen, a hairdresser and a butcher. Over two legs the score was 21–0.
Jeunesse Hautcharage came from a village of 704 people in Luxembourg. In 1971 they were in the third division of the Luxembourg league when they won the national cup, beating Jeunesse Esch 4–1 after extra time. The local brewery gave out free beer for three days. The prize, beyond the beer, was a place in the Cup Winners' Cup, and the draw sent them the holders: Chelsea.
The team
Nobody at Jeunesse was paid. The squad included steelworkers, railway workers, a hairdresser and a butcher. They trained two nights a week, and some of them cycled to the ground straight from work. Their reward for winning the cup had been a wristwatch each. Four Welscher brothers played, with Eddy as captain. Guy Thill, the youngest, had one arm. One player wore glasses.
Before the tie a club official set out their ambitions. "We have no hope!" he said. "If we lose 7–1 we'll be happy."
The first leg
The first leg was moved from Jeunesse's ground, which held 1,500, to Luxembourg's national stadium, which held 13,000. Chelsea won 8–0. Peter Osgood scored a hat-trick, Peter Houseman got two, and five of the eight goals were headers.
Osgood announced before the second leg that he would score six.
Stamford Bridge
On 29 September, in front of 27,621 at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea took 54 shots. Five hit the woodwork. Thirteen went in. Osgood scored five, one short of his promise. Tommy Baldwin scored a second-half hat-trick. John Hollins scored a penalty. Ron Harris scored one too. Houseman got the tenth.
At 11–0 it became a European record. The final score, 13–0, remains the biggest European win by an English club, and the 21–0 aggregate is Chelsea's biggest in Europe. The record was matched the following season when Feyenoord beat Rumelange 13–0.
Peter Bonetti, in goal, said later: "I must admit that we didn't know much about them before we played." Nor did he see a case for going easy: "It was a serious game and to start changing positions wouldn't have been very professional."
Afterwards
Chelsea's defence of the trophy did not last much longer. In the next round they went out on away goals to Åtvidaberg of Sweden, and they did not play in Europe again until 1994.
Guy Thill, interviewed in 2006, remembered it without bitterness. "None of our work experience was any use to us against Chelsea," he said. "We really enjoyed the day."