Chelsea players celebrate a goal in the Carabao Cup against Middlesbrough FC, in London, United Kingdom. EFE/EPA/ISABEL INFANTES
London, Jan 23 (EFE).- Stamford Bridge is not used to walks of this style. A 6-1 -even against Middlesbrough-, in a team made to suffer every week, is cause for celebration, even more so when it means a pass to a League Cup final and the possibility of Mauricio Pochettino winning his first title in England.
The Argentine, who won a league, a cup and a Super Cup at Paris Saint-Germain, did not touch a trophy in his five years at Tottenham Hotspur or at Southampton. He came up short in a lost League Cup final against José Mourinho’s Chelsea and in the Champions League final in which he capitulated against Liverpool.
On February 25 at Wembley, Pochettino will have the opportunity to partially compensate and give the ‘Blues’ their first win of the post-Tuchel era, after coming back against the weak Middlesbrough this Tuesday.
‘Boro’, eleventh in the Championship, arrived in west London with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, but the illusion of a first final in two decades lasted fifteen minutes. How long it took Raheem Sterling to leave a death pass to Broja, the Albanian into an empty goal was slow, but with the luck that Howson, trying to steal in desperation, put the ball in his goal.
From there, Michael Carrick’s men fell like a house of cards. Enzo, after a beautiful combination between Sterling’s heel and Disasis’s center, made it 2-0, and Disasi himself, after a run by Sterling down the wing, made it 3-0.
Before half-time, Chelsea ended it when Dan Barlaser slipped on the slippery grass after the rain and Cole Palmer took the ball from him and placed it next to the post.
The English talent, who finished the game as a false ‘nine’, rounded off the score and Noni Madueke scored the sixth after knocking down two defenders inside the area, and Chelsea sent the thousands of ‘Boro’ fans back to Middlesbrough that appeared in London. More than five hours by bus back to the north of England that will not be entirely pleasant after the rout, although at least they left with the pleasure of the goal of honor scored by Morgan Rogers.
Chelsea, who had not won by four goals or more since September 2022 when they beat Southampton 0-6, will face in the final the winner of the second semi-final that Fulham and Liverpool will play this Wednesday at Craven Cottage, with 2-1 of advantage for Jürgen Klopp’s men.
Manuel Sánchez Gómez
2024-01-24 08:36:13
#Chelsea #Wembley
