Jacob Steinberg was at Stamford Bridge tonight. His report is here. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Michael Carrick speaks to Sky Sports. “It was the quality we were up against … they were ruthless … it was six shots on target and six goals, so that’s as ruthless as it gets … we made a couple of mistakes but I can’t fault the players … we actually started OK … I’m hugely proud of the boys … I feel for them because we came a long way and it’s not nice to go through that … they’re a fantastic group … they stuck together, I was really proud of them in the second half because that’s not an easy place to be … it’s a shame we couldn’t give [the fans] anything to shout about … there’s a lot to play for this season … this was a bonus … it’s not going to make or break us … we look forward to the rest of the season.”
Mauricio Pochettinho speaks to Sky. “Today we were really clinical in front of the goal … we were really good in the final third … [Cole Palmer] is a player with an amazing talent … he has the quality to read the game … he is so versatile, he can play on the right or as a striker or behind the striker … he is very dynamic and we try to give him time to move … he is very talented … we are young and need to grow … step by step … the mentality is very good … it is our ninth game unbeaten [at home] … it is going to be a big boost for us … we do not have much time to prepare for the FA Cup game with Villa … but we are doing fantastic and I cannot complain … we are going to the final for the possibility to win the first title of the season.”
Player of the match Cole Palmer talks to Sky. “After the first game we knew it would be difficult … we’re going to Wembley … it’s going to be a good day … I missed three sitters in the first game, and that was always in my mind going into this one … so to score two … I’m happy … we’ve not had the best of starts [to the season] but it’s a great opportunity to get a trophy … I’m looking forward to it.”
After turning up for their shift late, about ten minutes in, Chelsea were rampant. They swarmed over Middlesbrough’s defence, which repeatedly buckled under pressure, and helped themselves to a record-breaking 6-1 win. Things are beginning to happen for the Blues under Mauricio Pochettino, with the elegant Cole Palmer and industrious Enzo Fernandez at the centre of pretty much everything. Some welcome miles for Ben Chilwell, too, in his return from injury. Their sixth League Cup is one match away. As for Boro, for whom one awful half of football against some of the most expensive players in the world cost them the chance of a fourth appearance in the final? Michael Carrick will be pleased enough with his side’s cup run once the pain subsides.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 6-1 Middlesbrough (agg 6-2)
Chelsea are going to Wembley, where they’ll face either Liverpool or neighbours Fulham in the final! Middlesbrough are free to concentrate on the league, and practice playing out from the back some more. And they’ll always have Cardiff 2004.
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90 min +2: Chelsea now have 60 seconds to break the record of goals scored in a League Cup semi-final second leg. That’s a mark they now share with Aston Villa, who also scored six in a psychedelic 6-4 win over Blackburn in 2010.
90 min +1: The first of three added minutes goes by without incident.
90 min: Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville names Cole Palmer as his player of the match. “Boro providing the absolute Platonic form of ‘twatting about at the back’ for some of these goals,” suggests James Humphries. “My inner Proper Football Man is going absolutely spare.”
89 min: Crooks is replaced by Gilbert.
GOAL! Chelsea 6-1 Middlesbrough (Rogers 88); agg 6-2
Boro get their consolation after all! Rogers dribbles down the inside-left channel, reaches the edge of the box, and steers a glorious low curler into the bottom right. Petrovic had no chance!
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86 min: Castledine comes on for his Chelsea debut, replacing Sterling.
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84 min: Middlesbrough have been awful defensively all evening, and the slapstick shenanigans continue as Fry batters a simple clearance straight into O’Brien, who was standing right next to him. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but dear me.
82 min: Hackney sends an in-swinger into the Chelsea box from the left. Crooks sends a dainty flicked header into the top right, Petrovic beaten all ends up, but the flag goes up for offside. It was the correct decision. No consolation for Boro.
GOAL! Chelsea 6-0 Middlesbrough (Madueke 81); agg 6-1
Chelsea have that record to themselves now! Boro ship possession yet again, and Madueke steams into the box down the inside-right channel. He whips towards the far corner. Van Den Berg attempts to clear on the goalline but can only deflect it onwards. It was going in anyway.
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79 min: It takes a while for the game to restart as a blue smoke bomb is chucked onto the pitch. Time for a leaf through the record books, and this scoreline matches the biggest win in a semi-final second leg, Liverpool’s 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace in 2001.
GOAL! Chelsea 5-0 Middlesbrough (Palmer 77); agg 5-1
Madueke and Chukwuemeka exchange passes down the right. Madueke can’t force home from a tight angle. Boro clear the resulting corner, only for Chelsea to come straight back at them. Gallagher makes good down the left, reaches the byline, and cuts back for Palmer, who opens his body and slots across Glover and into the bottom right.
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75 min: … and so it continues. Hackney whistles an overhit on-target backpass that Glover traps near the goalline, and eventually clears, albeit with the whistles of mockery ringing in his ears.
73 min: Boro are nearly undone once more when passing out from the back. Glover plays a hospital pass to Fry, who has his back to goal, six yards out. Sterling races in from behind at 101mph. Sterling steals the ball but can’t force it home from a tight angle on the left. Just a corner, from which nothing comes. Boro have learned the square root of nowt from that first-half fiasco.
72 min: Caicedo goes off, Chukwuemeka comes on.
71 min: Boro’s second change of the evening: Howson is replaced by O’Brien.
69 min: … and that corner is a waste of time. But Chelsea come again, Palmer wedging down the middle towards Disasi, free on the spot. Any contact is surely a goal, but he swings at fresh air and that’s that.
68 min: Gallagher is sent free down the middle by Madueke’s raking pass. He hesitates, though, and can’t get a shot off. He’ll have to settle for a corner.
67 min: Chelsea ping it here, they ping it there. All very relaxing with this semi-final long over.
65 min: Gallagher and young right-back Gilchrist replace Chilwell and Broja.
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64 min: Van Den Berg is booked for taking a cynical handful of Sterling’s shirt.
63 min: Howson passes down the left for Engel, who whistles a low ball through the Chelsea box. Silva eases Crooks away from it at the near post. Dijksteel recovers possession and tees up Rogers, whose shot from the edge of the box is blocked. As good as Boro have looked all night.
62 min: Petrovic, under no pressure, slaps a poor pass out of play on the left. Chilwell goes to bollock him for his carelessness, then remembers he’s the captain tonight and switches into encouragement mode instead. Clap clap clap!
60 min: Rogers tries to spin Silva down the left but only succeeds in bringing the veteran defender down. Boro’s only – extremely wafer-thin – hope was an early second-half goal, but they’ve carried no threat whatsoever.
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58 min: Turns out they were looking at Madueke’s shoulder, not his ankle. In other news, I’ve been struck off by the GMC.
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56 min: Palmer drops a shoulder on the edge of the D but can’t make enough space to shoot. The ball breaks to Fernandez, who flays a wild effort many miles over the bar.
54 min: Madueke, having been given a proper once-over on the touchline, is back on.
53 min: Silva is booked for dragging back Rogers, as the Boro striker battles down the right wing. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, which sees the visitors load the box to little effect.
52 min: The corner is half cleared. Palmer then dances his way down the left touchline by nutmegging Hackney with a backheel (!) then overhitting the cross. Chilwell comes in from the other flank and sends a low swerving shot wide left.
51 min: Madueke gets back up and is able to trudge off. No sub is made yet, and Chelsea will take the corner with ten men.
50 min: Madueke’s hard work down the right wins Chelsea a corner, but it comes at a cost. He looks to have turned his ankle upon landing, and he’s in some distress. On comes the physio.
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49 min: Glover is nearly closed down by Broja, but some neat footwork gets him out of bother just in time.
47 min: Chelsea start the second half where they left off, pressing hard, forcing Boro into a mild panic. Lines are cleared, but only just, with Sterling and Madueke buzzing around hectically. “I’m rereading Harry Pearson’s classic The Far Corner,” begins the discerning Charles Antaki, “and have coincidentally just reached the chapter on Middlesbrough v Peterborough United, Endsleigh Insurance League Division 1. There’s plenty there to cheer up Middlesbrough fans, if only by pointing out that they’ve had it far worse. Sample: ‘...despite close to a century of non-achievement club officials were still counseling the fans to be patient. Personally I felt we’ve been patient for long enough. By that stage even Gandhi would’ve nutted someone.’”
Chelsea get the second half started. Both teams have made a change, Madueke replacing Mudryk for the hosts, Forss making way for the more defensively minded Dijksteel.
Half-time entertainment. More Chelsea-infused joy can be found within.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 4-0 Middlesbrough (agg: 4-1)
A reminder that we’ll have extra time if the score is level after 90 minutes. It’s damage limitation for Boro now. Chelsea – who have been excellent, a subdued first ten minutes apart – are going to Wembley.
45 min: Boro have two more first-half minutes to suffer.
43 min: It’s nearly five as Boro again overplay in defence. Sterling presses, Palmer shoots, the effort is blocked. If any time ever needed to hear the half-time whistle, it’s Middlesbrough. They’re all over the shop now.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-0 Middlesbrough (Palmer 42); agg 4-1
Boro try playing out from the back. Glover to Barlaser to Hackney back to Barlaser … who overstretches on the edge of the D and slips over. Palmer strips the ball away, turns, and whips into the bottom left.
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40 min: Crooks goes sliding in late and hard on Fernandez. No real need for it. A frustrated lunge that earns him a yellow card.
38 min: Everyone wants the ball now. Mudryk steams down the left and very nearly gets the better of Van Den Berg and Fry. Not quite. Boro in tatters right now.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Middlesbrough (Disasi 36); agg 3-1
Disasi again romps down the right, and this time he’s the one who benefits. He steals the ball in the centre circle and lays off to Palmer, who whistles a pass along the flank for Sterling, who crosses low for Disasi, who had kept running. Disasi sweeps across Glover and into the bottom left. Another gorgeous goal! Barring something very dramatic and equally weird, Chelsea are going to Wembley.
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35 min: Boro settle themselves down a little bit. A few passes completed in the midfield. They needed that.
33 min: Another Chelsea goal would surely kill it, though. Palmer, number-tenning in the pocket, rolls a simple pass down the middle to feed Fernandez, who attempts to steer into the bottom right. Glover reads his intention and smothers.
32 min: … but there’s a thin line between sassy swagger and complacency, and Chilwell is caught snoozing in the centre circle by Forss, who sweeps away with the ball down the left. He hands over to Rogers, who can’t decide what to do on the edge of the Chelsea box and loses control. A reminder to Chelsea that the tie isn’t quite over yet.
31 min: Chelsea are swaggering around now. Boro look rattled.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Middlesbrough (Fernandez 29); agg 2-1
Sterling and Disasi combine elegantly down the right to tear Boro open down the flank. Sterling with an exquisite backheel return. Disasi reaches the byline and cuts back for Broja, who can’t connect, but the ball rolls across to Fernandez, who emphatically can. Slam! Chelsea ahead!
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28 min: Chelsea get patient. Then they suddenly slam on the accelerator, and …
26 min: Fernandez slips a ball into the Boro box down the inside-left channel. Mudryk nips ahead of Van Den Berg on the overlap. He fails to control, though, and the ball rolls out for a goal kick. Had Van Den Berg made any contact with Mudryk – and he so nearly did – it’d have been a clear penalty. But the defender did well to pull out of the challenge at the last. Boro hearts in mouths for a nanosecond there.
25 min: A loose ball down the Boro left now, with Rogers, Forss and Hackney all barrelling after it. Colwill comes across to skelp it into the East Stand, before Boro can piece together anything coherent. That was a crucial intervention.
23 min: Chelsea take it down a notch with some sterile domination.
21 min: Van Den Berg beats Chilwell in a footrace towards a loose ball down the right … only to take a heavy touch and run it out for a goal kick, having done the hardest part of the job.
20 min: It’s all Chelsea now. That stuttering start suddenly seems a lifetime ago.
18 min: As for the goal, it’s an unfortunate one for Howson. Broja was almost certainly going to score, so the Boro midfielder had to try something. A lovely Chelsea move, though, Colwill’s defence splitter making it look easy.
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16 min: Boro nearly hit straight back immediately, winning a corner down the left. From the set piece, Rogers jinks his way into the box and threads a shot towards the bottom-left corner. There’s not enough welly behind it to beat Petrovic, who smothers on the line.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Middlesbrough (Howson og 15); agg 1-1
This is so easy for Chelsea. Colwill picks up possession in the middle of the park, sashaying right to left before sliding a pass down the channel. Sterling springs into the box and rolls across for Broja, who is about to slot when Howson nicks the ball off his toe only to bundle into his own net.
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13 min: … and there’s no VAR tonight, so the referee’s on-field decision is final.
12 min: Chelsea so close to an opener! Silva pings a long pass down the middle for Chilwell, who beats Glover to the dropping ball. His header loops over the keeper but sails narrowly wide right of the open goal. Chilwell, having been hit by Glover after winning the header, claims a penalty, but he’s not getting one. Mudryk complains to the extent that he goes into the book.
10 min: Clarke heads it clear. The ball comes back. Some head tennis, before Van Den Berg blooters away from danger. Better from Chelsea, though the bar had been set low.
9 min: Mudryk cuts in from the left and exchanges passes with Fernandez before taking a speculative shot that’s deflected off Hackney and over the bar. The first corner of the evening coming up. Chilwell to take from the left.
7 min: Van Den Berg sends a low cross in from the right. Silva clears with Rogers lurking. Then Forss tries again. Chilwell hacks this one clear. Chelsea don’t look with it at all, and their fans let them know they need to snap out of it quicksmart.
6 min: Chelsea haven’t managed to put anything together yet. Out of frustration, or perhaps impatient ambition, Colwill clanks a long pass straight through to Glover in the Boro goal.
4 min: A couple of promising early attacks by Boro, with Howson and Rogers taking turns to probe at the Chelsea back line. Nothing dramatic occurs, but that’ll give the Championship side some encouragement.
2 min: A cracking atmosphere at the Bridge tonight. Red flares in the away section. Both sets of fans giving it plenty. The swirl of wind and rain adding some extra frisson.
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Before the match, a minute of applause to remember Tommy Baldwin, who helped Chelsea to the 1970 FA Cup and the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup. Then Boro get the match underway.
The teams are out! Chelsea in blue, Boro in red. A whirl of the organ, a toss of a coin, a shake of the hand and we’ll be off. “Given Chelsea’s penchant for buying up massive bunches of players and sending them off on loan, could this matchup be billed as ‘Lend v Boro’?” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the locally-produced cinnamon-enhanced sweetmeats.
Michael Carrick’s turn. “I trust the boys … it’s a great opportunity for us … we’re looking forward to it … we know what we’re getting into … we know how tough it will be … we’ll have a right crack at it … we’ve got to ride the emotion, mood and momentum … ‘stay in the game’ subconsciously puts you in survival mode and you want to be a bit more expressive … that’s the balance … you have to be sensible … we want to affect the game in a positive way … we’ll be flexible and adapt … it’ll be a big test for us.”
Mauricio Pochettino talks to Sky. “This is an important game for us … the first leg was difficult … we need to win the game … it’s an amazing opportunity to make the final … we have to respect our opponent, it is going to be tough … the first leg we played well but we were not clinical enough … we need to learn … we cannot afford to lose this game … we have a second chance … it’s important for us to make the final.”
Chelsea make three changes to the team that started the first leg. Ben Chilwell, Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja are in, replacing Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher, who drop to the bench, and Malo Gusto, who is injured.
Middlesbrough also make three changes to their starting XI from that match. Isaiah Jones, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura are all unavailable, so Matt Clarke, Morgan Rogers and Marcus Forss step up.
The teams
Chelsea: Petrovic, Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill, Chilwell, Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer, Mudryk, Sterling, Broja.
Subs: Badiashile, Madueke, Chukwuemeka, Gallagher, Deivid Washington, Gilchrist, Bergstrom, Castledine, Curd.
Middlesbrough: Glover, Clarke, Fry, van den Berg, Engel, Crooks, Barlaser, Howson, Hackney, Forss, Rogers.
Subs: Gilbert, Dijksteel, McNair, Coburn, O’Brien, Jamie Jones, McCabe, Bridge, Akono Bilongo.
Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire).
Your Chelsea side tonight! 💪@ParimatchUK | #CFC | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/fNOcaoqlM6
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 23, 2024
Tonight's team news 🗞️@unibet #UTB pic.twitter.com/aufC8PqCXi
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) January 23, 2024
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Preamble
This happened 36 years ago …
… and may haunt the minds of a certain generation of Chelsea supporters going into tonight’s game. Can the five-time winners turn their 1-0 deficit from the first leg around? Or will Boro hold on to reach their fourth final, and their first since their one and only win in 2004? The story will begin to unfold at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
