Michael Duberry has opened up on the scary experience of playing for Chelsea in the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final against Stuttgart while suffering from Bell’s Palsy
Michael Duberry of Chelsea
Michael Duberry spent six years at Chelsea(Image: Paul Mcfegan/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
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Michael Duberry has revealed that he played for Chelsea in the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final while suffering from a medical condition. Duberry spent six years playing for the Blues and the 1997/98 season was the height of his success with the club.
The centre-back was part of the side which beat Stuttgart 1-0 to win the Cup Winners' Cup on May 13, 1998. Chelsea's team that day in Stockholm contained the likes of Frank Leboeuf, Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Wife, Gus Poyet, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianluca Vialli.
Duberry started in central defence and played the full 90 minutes, despite a fraught build-up to the final. He was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy two weeks before the match - a condition which causes sudden weakness or paralysis in the facial muscles.
"The one that sticks out, for me because it is a foundation of my whole resilience and who I was, [is the Cup Winners’ Cup]. I suffered, not many people know this, I don’t tell the story," he said on the SACKED! podcast.
“It wasn’t like it is now where everything is news but the biggest game of my life at the time, you mentioned the Cup Winners’ Cup. I was 20, 21, and two weeks before I suffered from Bell’s Palsy.
"People might be going: ‘What is Bell’s Palsy?' In essence, it’s a mini stroke, down the side of your face. It just collapses. Someone says: ‘Look at your face.’ And I go: ‘Yeah, look at your face.’ Having a bit of banter.
"And they say: ‘No, seriously Dubes, go and look at your face.’ I go to the toilet and I look at my face and I can’t move my face. I look like Sloth in the Goonies if you picture a Black version of that.
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final Chelsea v Stuttgart, held at Råsunda Stadium. Chelsea won the match 1-0, thanks to a Gianfranco Zola goal, 13th May 1998.
Chelsea won the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1998(Image: Andrew Stenning/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
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"I’m going ‘Oh my God.’ I phone up my physio to see our club doctor at Chelsea, get in the car, and all the lads are having a bit of banter on the way out. Going, driving down on the journey, and I’m looking in the mirror at my face, I can’t move my face.
"I see the doctor and he says I’ve got Bell’s Palsy. What is Bell’s Palsy? I don’t know what Bell’s Palsy is? Well, how long do you have it for, because I’m thinking we’ve got a cup final. We just beat Middlesbrough in the League Cup. It can be two weeks, two months, two years."
"In my head I’m thinking: ‘Don’t let this disturb you.’ I was always the young one thinking: ‘I mustn’t be the weak link.’ I’ve got internationals around me and I think ‘This can’t affect me.’
Chelsea's Gianfranco Zola scores the winning goal
Gianfranco Zola won the game for Chelsea(Image: Dave Shopland/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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"Luckily, the magic man Gianfranco Zola scored the winning goal and we won. I always remember doing the celebrations, I always use that picture when I do some of my talks," he added.
“And I say to people: ‘What do you see in that picture?’ And they say: ‘Celebrations, glory.’ And I say: ‘Resilience.’ Because in pictures, if you see my face there, anyone who has had it can straight away, and it just says ‘resilience’ because I had the Bell’s Palsy.
"That’s one of my biggest accomplishments, hurdles, things I’ve ever overcome in my life. Having Bell’s Palsy and playing a major cup final and winning is the biggest thing for me."
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