Sarri speaks
“I was very happy with the performance. We reacted very well. We played with a very good level of determination so I was really very happy. I think that in 180 minutes across the two matches, we deserved to go to the final.”
“I think we deserved to win 3-1 or 4-1 [today] but the opponents were able to put us in trouble at the beginning of the second half. But we were very dangerous and had a lot of opportunities.”
About Higuain he says: “He was lucky tonight because if he saw us in the last match he would have been a little bit worried I think!
Regarding his criticism of his team’s attitude during the week, he says: “I didn’t attack my players. I said only that we had a problem. The problem was the motivation, with continuity. In this match we reacted very well and now we have to show continuity.”
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Pochettino's post-match verdict
“When you have a chance to go to the penalty on final, you know you have to be clinical and have a bit of luck ... we played so well in the second half, we dominated and we had chances, but that’s football.” They didn’t dominate.
“In the first half we played very well before we conceded the first goal, we had control.” They didn’t have control.
“I feel so proud. The team was so good. I am so happy with the performance, with the way we fought and the way we arrived in the semi-final, after playing Watford, Arsenal and two great games against Chelsea.”
Chelsea 2-1 Spurs (agg: 2-2) (4-2 on pens)
Chelsea will play Manchester City in next month’s final. Spurs, weakened by injuries fought back well in the second half after being dominated in the first, but Chelsea deserved to advance. Hazard revelled in his favourite position on the left, where he combined well with Emerson. And Sarri got the reaction he had demanded. Suddenly the sun is shining again at Stamford Bridge, and Spurs can only curse the absence of Son, Kane and Alli.
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David Luiz blasts it low into the corner to win it for Chelsea! Chelsea 4-2 Spurs
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Moura’s shot is saved by Arrizabalaga Chelsea 3-2 Spurs
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Jorginho does his usual skip before rolling the ball past the befuddled keeper Chelsea 3-2 Spurs
Dier Waddles it over the bar! Chelsea 2-2 Spurs
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Azpilicueta scores, high into the corner Chelsea 2-2 Spurs
Lamela fires low into the corner Chelsea 1-2 Spurs
Willian sends the keeper the wrong way and scores Chelsea 1-1 Spurs
Eriksen shoots low into the net Chelsea 0-1 Spurs
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Spurs will go first.
Pochettino is looking very animated as he gives his players a team-talk. Presumably he’s reminding them that all they have to do now is slot the ball into the net from 12 yards, past the world’s most expensive goalkeeper ....
Full-time: Chelsea 2-1 Spurs (agg: 2-2)
Penalty shootout to follow ...
90+4 min: Giroud does very well to hold the ball up on half-way despite pressure. Then he brings Emerson into the play and turns and runs towards the box in anticipation of a cross. Emerson hares down the left and duly delivers the cross ... but Giroud heads wide from 10 yards! This doesn’t augur well for his role in the shootout ...
90+2 min: Emerson flies down the left and digs out a splendid cross. Giroud has a chance to claim the winner from six yards .... but he misses the ball completely! It was on his left foot, six yards out. It was a sitter!
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90 min: If no one scores a decisive goal in the next four minutes, we’ll have ourselves a shootout. It’d be a pity to be denied that treat now.
90 min: Aurier’s hurt after a heavy fall caused by crashing into Emerson after a mighty leap to win a header.
88 min: Rose again does superbly, outmuscling and then outskilling Willian to turn a Chelsea attack into a Tottenham break.
86 min: Giroud peels away and finds space at the left-hand side of the box, but his first touch his slightly too hefty, allowing Alderweireld to rush across and prevent him from getting off a shot.
85 min: After two fine defensive challenges - first by Rose, then by Dier - Chelsea keep on the pressure and win a corner. Hazard curls it in to the near post, where Azpilicueta helps it on, but it slightly beyond David Luiz towards the back.
83 min: Lamela beats Willian to a bouncing ball after Azplicueta tries to head clear. Then Azplicicueta comes over to try to win it back. Lamela turns his back to his opponent and tries to hold him off, his elbow hitting the nose of the defender, who goes down and gets a freekick.
82 min: Willian’s delivers a mean corner that Vertonghen has to head behind for another. Willian wastes the next one.
Chelsea substitution: Kovacic on, Barkley off.
80 min: We may be only 10+ minutes away from a shootout ...
Spurs substitution: Sanchez on, Sissoko off.
79 min: Chelsea play on despite Sissoko being on the ground hurt following a collision with his teammate Aurier. It’s not a head injury so Chelsea feel within their rights, although Spurs are miffed and make that clear after clearing the ball for a corner.
76 min: Kanté finds space to cross from the right, but Aurier heads his delivery away.
Chelsea substitution: Willian on, Pedro off.
74 min: Hazard receives a pass from Rüdiger with his back to goal, about 25 yards out. He spins and darts fowards before unloading a low fizzer from the edge of the box. It whistles past Gazzaniga ... and inches past the far post!
73 min: Sissoko booked for catching Jorginho with a mistimed challenge in central midfield.
71 min: Rose, who has been very good since his introduction, flies down the left again, but this time his cross goes straight to the keeper.
70 min: Gazzaniga bypasses the Chelsea defence with a superb long kick from his hands and right into the path of Moura. The Brazilian runs on to it and tries to smash the bouncing ball goalward from the edge of the area. He finds the sidenetting.
Spurs substitution: Moura on, Llorente off.
67 min: Azpilicueta booked for halting a counter-attack illegally.
66 min: Lovely play by Hazard! Such deft touches and nimble footwork! He plays a dinky one-two at the edge of the box and then sidesteps one challenge in the area before being crowded out. Amid much panic in the Spurs box, Pedro eventually gets off a shot. Gazzaniga saves.
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65 min: Now here’s a good reason to mention Eriksen: he glides a super pass from the right over to you Llorente, who’ll have a clear shot at goal from 16 yards if only he can take it down .... but he stretches out his leg and misses it!
64 min: Hazard collects the ball in his favourite sphere of influence, the left-hand channel. He helps it on to Giroud, who tires a shot from an acute angle. He gets a corner. It’s delivered to Rüdiger on the far side of the box and, after he takes it down on his chest, his shot is charged down.
62 min: Eriksen. Just wanted to say his name. There hasn’t yet been any other reason to mention him today.
60 min: For the many of you asking: NO, away goals do not count double here.
58 min: Kanté punces on a breaking ball in midfield and immediately releases Hazard. Can he put Chelsea back in front on aggregate? No, he fires low and wide of the near post from the edge of the area! What a chance that was! But you get the feeling there’ll be many more for both teams in what is becoming a belting encounter...
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56 min: Rose is down again, shouting in pan as he goes after being caught by Kanté. It all happened right in front of the dugouts, so representatives of both clubs leap to their feet to gesticulate helpfully. The ref, meanwhile, shows Kanté a yellow. This is getting pleasingly feisty, though not quite reaching the heights of their adorable clash here in the 2015-16 season.
55 min: A dangerous cross from the left by Emerson is headed well clear by Vertonghen.
54 min: Spurs have new fizz! And Jorginho is booked for chopping down Rose after a lovely burst down the left by the defender. And then Sarri gets booked for complaining.
52 min: Kanté skitters through the middle and slides in Giroud, who doesn’t catch his shot well. Still, Gazzaniga had to get down quickly to make an awkward save from the striker’s 16-yard shot.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Spurs (agg: 2-2) (Llorente 50)
From out of nowhere, Spurs hit back! Rose delivers a beautiful cross from the left and Llorente does brilliantly to stoop past David Luiz and guide a difficult downward header into the net from seven yards!
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51 min: Chelsea catch Spurs trying to play their way out from the back, with Hazard pinching the ball off Aurier before flipping it inside to Kanté. The Frenchman tries to twirl past Alderweireld and nearly succeeds, but Spurs eventually scramble the ball away.
49 min: Eriksen takes a short corner to Rose, who whips it into the area. When it’s cleared to the edge of the box, Alderweireld tries to smash a volley into the net, but blasts high and wide.
47 min: Gazzaniga punches away a Chelsea corner. Jorginho returns it wide a sidefooted volley from 20 yards, but the keeper makes a comfortable save.
46 min: No substitutions during the break. Spurs, of course, were forced to make one earlier when Rose replaced the injured Davies. Lucas Moura should be on soon, mind, either for Lamela or even Llorente, both of whom have been ineffective.
The evidence so far suggests that the best way to motivate Chelsea is to announce that they are difficult to motivate. Maurizio Sarri, Jedi master.
“Pedro is absolutely owning this tie,” bugles Hubert O’Hearn. “He’s never the first or even the third name you think of when it comes to Chelsea, but my goodness, I have never seen him have a bad match. Such an intelligent, quick player.” You’re right, Hubert, except that his touch has let him down a couple of times today, otherwise he might have been on the score sheet already.
Half-time Chelsea 2-0 Spurs (agg: 2-1)
Chelsea bossed that half and deserve their lead, given to them by goals from Kanté and Hazard, who has been in especially good form cutting in from the left. It’s been something of a non-performance by Spurs, who have been impotent up front - understandable, to an extent, given their absentees - but also uncharacteristically ragged at the back and often bypassed in midfield. Unless they improve, or their hosts deteriorated, Chelsea are heading for the final.
45+2 min: Alderweireld’s woes go on, as he gets himself in a mess trying to dribble between Giroud and Hazard near half-way. Hazard robs the ball off him and scurries towards the Tottenham box. Alderweireld chases after him and then brings him down with a tackle from behind. The crowd howl for a penalty but the ref waves play on, seemingly believing the defender got the ball and did no harm to the man. It looked a foul to me, just outside the box.
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45 min: There will be at least three more minutes before Pochettino gets another chance to hypnotise Llorente, Lamela and Sissoko into thinking they are Kane, Alli and Son.
44 min: Excellent work by Hazard, who wins the ball deep in his own half and then spanks a wonderful pass 40 yards forward to Pedro. But the move goes downhill from there.
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42 min: A lucky break for Spurs, as Pedro miscontrols after being released down the right on a counter.
40 min: Spurs are getting frustrated, with Lamela complaining about a freekick awarded to Hazard for a robust tackle by Sissoko. In truth, Spurs are probably most frustrated by their own limitations: they can’t keep the ball in the attacking end, let alone threaten a breakthrough. And they look vulnerable every time Chelsea zoom forward, especially with Hazard increasingly mischievous.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Spurs (agg: 2-1) (Hazard 38)
It’s been coming. Spurs were sluggish as Barkley took a quick freekick in midfield. Then Pedro slipped in the overlapping Azpilicueta down the right and the Spaniard fed a low cross into Hazard, who swatted it into the net from eight yards.
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36 min: hazard is getting into the groove. He dances past Sissoko down the let and fires in a low ball to the near post. Giroud’s attempt to turn it into the net is hampered by Alderweireld, who does just enough. But Spurs are creaking, no doubt about that.
34 min: Emerson skins two down the left before sticking in a reasonable cross, except that it’s too close to the keeper, who claims it under no pressure.
Spurs substitution: Rose on, Davies off.
32 min: Danny Rose has been ordered to warm up because Davies is down with some sort of injury, possibly a groin strain. Poor Pochettino, born in a town called Murphy, finding out all about what Murphy’s Law means in these parts.
30 min: Spurs bout of the jitters at the back has not relented. Now Vertonghen concedes an easily avoidable corner. This time there’s no punishment. “You asked what Gonzalo Higuain said to the crowd before the match,” recalls Peter Oh. “Given the fiery reputation of the current AC Milan manager, it’s possible that he said “Am I glad to be here? Oh boy am I ever! Here in London I’m safe from Rino Gattuso. Uh, anyway lads, it’s always been a dream of mine to play for Ars...[checks badge] Chelsea, and no, it was never about the money’.”
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Spurs (agg: 1-1) (Kanté 27)
Alderweireld sloppily concedes a corner. The delivery is headed away at the near post by Llorente. But Kanté runs on it and smashes a low shot between three sets of legs and into the net, with Gazzaniga too perplexed to adjust his own feet quickly enough to make a stop! Chelsea rush into the net to retrieve the ball and go for goal No2.
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27 min: Llorente makes a long pass to him stick, but then botches his attempt to feed Lamela, rolling the ball behind his teammate to neutralise a counter-attack.
25 min: After a nice moe down the right by Chelsea, Winks hurries across to block a delivery by Azpilicueta, at the expense of a corner. Chelsea take it short and eventually send a cross into the area. But now David Luiz is offside.
23 min: Rüdiger overhits a long pass aimed at Giroud, who hasn’t been as involved as he would have liked so far. That’s because Spurs have defended well and Chelsea have lacked precision.
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21 min: Spurs exert a bit of pressure. After his first corner comes to nought, Lamela attempts another out-swinger from the left. That, too, yields nothing. “I realise that I should be concentrating on this important and fascinating game, but I’ve spent the first fifteen minutes of the match trying to think of football managers with other versions of the name Maurice,” admits Kari Tulinius. “So far, I haven’t thought of a single Mauritz, Moritz or Morris. However, I would like to see Mauricio and Maurizio manage a contest between Mauritania, the intimidatingly nicknamed Lions of Chinguetti, and Mauritius, the less intimidatingly nicknamed Dodos.” Maurice Setters wants a word with you.
18 min: Spurs are struggling to plot a way out of their half. Chelsea are buzzing around them whenever they enter opposing territory and Spurs can’t find the precision and strength to hold on to the ball. They’re missing their star trio, no doubt.
15 min: Hazard attacks from the left again. This time he plays a short one-two with Barkley before knocking it back to Emmerson, whose attempt to switch the action to the far side brings a ballboy into play
13 min: Hazard gets a chance to skedaddle down the left for the first time. And he gets tripped by Alderweireld. He gets up to take the freekick, clipping it over to the far side of the box. Giroud tries a spectacular scissors kick but doesn’t direct it towards goal, sending it instead across the six-yard box. Barkley attempts to turn it towards the target but can’t get over the bouncing ball to make a sure connection. Spurs escape.
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11 min: Hazard curls a freekick from the right into the area. But before anyone can try to meet it, Rudiger is penalised for a foul.
8 min: After a dainty interception by David Luiz, the Brazilian gets caught in midfield by Dier. It was not a dirty tackle - in fact, the contact was made by David Luiz after Dier jumped in front of him to try to make a block - but David Luiz seems to have suffered an injury. He hobbles off for treatment.
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6 min: Emerson gallops down the left for the first time but then overhits a simple pass intended for Barkley.
4 min: Jorginho pounced on a loose ball in midfield and quickly fed Pedro, who scampered down the left into the space left by Davies. The Spaniard dashes into the box and turns on to his left foot ... but his shot from 16 yards is well blocked by Alderweireld.
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2 min: Pochettino demanded an aggressive start and that’s what he got, with Spurs pressing high from the start. But Chelsea are up for this too, so neither side has had any meaningful time on the ball so far.
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1 min: The Carabao Cup semi-final second leg is go!
Pyrotechnics accompany the arrival of the players on to the pitch, and the crowd clap along to Liquidator. It’s a fun atmosphere on a freezing London night.
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Apparently Gonzalo Higuian has been presented to Chelsea fans on the pitch at Stamford Bridge. I’m told he even said a few words to them in English. But I don’t know what those words were. Anyone like to guess?
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“With the absences in Spurs’ lineup for this match, the DESK attacking formation has become SELL,” notes Rob Smith. “Or maybe SWELL if Winks is included. Is that a good thing?” I’m not sure, Rob. But if Moura comes on as a substitute for Winks, that would really stink.
Pochettino speaks
He’s not making any excuses about the absences of Kane, Son or Alli: “It’s going to be fantastic to win and go through to the final but we are going to have a very difficult game. It’s going to be a massive battle ... how we start the game is going to be so important. We need to be aggressive and try to dominate.”
Sarri speaks
The manager says he has been encouraged by his players’ attitude in training in the last few days but wants them to produce in a proper match now: “We need to react on the pitch. I saw something interesting in the last two or three trainings but only on the pitch is it important. So I want to be see something good in this match.”
He also says that he intended to play Christensen at centreback but the Dane had a groin problem in training so David Luiz starts instead. As for the inclusion of Giroud, he says: “I didn’t like how we attacked the opposing box in the last match so tonight we need a true nine.”
“That sign in the photo says all you need to know about Sarri’s faith in his strikers’ ability to find the net,” chortles Justin Kavanagh. “No doubt they will respond with a No Smoking Please sign of their own in the dressing room.” It’ll most likely be a V-sign for Sarri after this game, one way or the other.
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Teams:
It looks the like that clear-the-air meeting between Sarri and the players has led to the manaegr seeing the light! He’s made significant changes here: Emerson comes in at left-back in place of the under-performing Alonso; Giroud starts as at centre-forward so that Hazard can frolic as he pleases; an let’s see what role will be given to Ngolo Kanté - the one at which he’s a world leader, or the one at which he’s so-so?
Meanwhile, some rare good news for Spurs on the injury front, as Sissoko returns.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Rüdiger, Emerson; Kanté, Jorginho, Barkley; Pedro, Giroud, Hazard
Subs: Cabellero, Ampadu, Alonso, Kovacic, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, Piazon
Spurs: Gazzaniga; Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Lamela; Llorente
Subs: Lloris, Rose, Sanchez, Walker-Peters, Skipp, Nkoudou, Moura
Referee: M Atkinson
Preamble
In the first instalment of this semi-final, Spurs beat Chelsea 1-0 thanks to a hotly-debated penalty by Harry Kane. But since then Kane and most of the rest of Spurs’ strike force been rendered unavailable, jeopardising the north Londoners’ hopes for the season at a critical point. Holding on to their first leg lead today, or even increasing it, would do them a power of good, even if the final, against Manchester City, would mean that a team that is being stretched close to breaking point would have another fixture to contend with.
Chelsea also have problems. They failed to sign Gonzalo Higuain in time for this match so Maurizio Sarri will have to rely on strikers that he evidently does not believe to be adequate, or else deploy Eden Hazard in a role that the Belgian does not particularly enjoy. Chelsea have failed to score in three of their last five matches. With the manager’s tactics and personnel selections increasingly contested, Sarri increased the pressure on himself this week by publicly bemoaning his players’ attitudes. How will they respond today?
One of these teams will feel much better about themselves after this clash, and one will feel worse. And one of these managers will leave Stamford Bridge today knowing that he’ll be taking his team to a cup final against Manchester City next month, and what a thrill that would be for Mauricio Pochettino, whose trophy cabinet is bare, or Sarri, whose career honours so far consist of an Employee of the Week rosette from the Banca Monte deli Paschi di Siena.
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