Wednesday January 23, 2013 Semifinal Finished The Liberty Stadium
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League Cup - Hazard sent off for kicking ball boy as Swansea reach Wembley
Swansea City reaching their first major Cup final was overshadowed by a moment of madness from Eden Hazard. More
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Live Commentary
Time:90'- Swansea City
- Chelsea
90+6' Britton and Michu combine in one final attack, but Cech claims. And soon after the whistle goes - Swansea are in their first major cup final and will face Bradford!
90+5' Dyer unleashes a drive towards the near-post top corner that Cech palms over. All over bar the shouting.- 90+3' Long ball towards Torres won by Swansea, who proceed to keep the ball. Chelsea have lost all heart.
- 90+2' Outstanding flick by Michu to send Ki away down the left and he crosses low for Dyer, whose shot is blocked and wins a precious corner.
- 90' Six minutes to be added on - Britton was down for ages then there was the Hazard-ball boy main event.
- 89' Ki enters the box on the left and looks set to pull the trigger before looking to come inside for some reason - and he ends up on the floor in the tackle. Half-hearted shout for a penalty. No chance!
- 88' The home fans are relaxed now as their team keeps the ball. It's not been a classic encounter, to match last night for example, but what a night for Swansea City.
86' Chelsea change: Ryan Bertrand on for Cole.- 85' Swansea looking the more likely team now as the Blues become increasingly desperate. Michu wins a throw on halfway and gestures to his own fans - 'Vamos!' Maybe.
- 82' Great chance for Swansea but Ki goes left when he should go right and Hernandez's strike is saved by Cech.
- 81' That is incredible - can he be sent off for that? He was trying to get the ball from him for quite some time. Chelsea change: Torres on for Oscar.
80' CHRIS FOY SENDS HAZARD OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
79' The ball boy staying down clutching his side - great play-acting from the youngster!- 78' Controversy as Hazard tries to get the ball off a ball boy, who falls on the ball to protect it! Hazard boots the ball into his midriff and a melee ensues.
- 77' The home fans break out into song. Are they daring to consider this tie won?
- 77' The home fans break out into song. Are they daring to consider this tie won?
- 76' Anywhere will do for Swansea as they boot deep into the Chelsea half.
- 75' You get the feeling that Mata is the key if Chelsea are to get back into this tie.
- 73' Mata plays into Ba's feet and goes immediately to collect the return ball and strike a dipping effort towards the far post, saved and held brilliantly by Tremmel! The away fans behind that goal thought that was in!
- 72' Chelsea throwing men forward. Azpilicueta's low cross is hacked away - not a lot of reason behind the massed blue forwards.
- 71' Michu with the slide tackle to deny Ramires and away come Swansea. Hernandez plays out to the left and Davies as Michu bombs on, but nothing ultimately comes of the attack as Chelsea get back.
- 70' Ba shoves Williams at the near post as the corner is swung in. Foul.
- 69' Chelsea win a corner as Lampard drives to the by-line. Nando Torres is warming up! Get him on!
- 68' Chelsea change: Luiz on for Ivanovic.
- 67' Mata looks to instigate something from the left, playing two quick one-twos, but Dyer nicks the ball away before running it out of play.
- 66' Chelsea look fairly clueless as Benitez chats to David Luiz on the touchline.
- 65' Swansea change: Nathan Dyer on for Routledge. Nippy for nippy.
- 64' Rangel cross just beyond Michu as the home fans chant Britton's name.
- 63' Cheeky free-kick touched to Lampard - as Chelsea pretend to line up a cross into the mixer – but the England man’s run and strike balloons well over to jeers from the home faithful.
- 62' Laudrup looks calm enough on the bench as Britton stays down. He’s not play-acting – there’s a bandage being wrapped around his head.
- 59' Hernandez angry after Chelsea are awarded a free-kick. Britton down hurt after catching Ramires's elbow in his face - accidental.
- 58' Hernandez dinks into the box, cleared by Chelsea. The Blues build on the left, with a Mata volley blocked inside the area before Ramires's strike trickles woefully wide.
- 57' There is a tense atmosphere which will build and build as the time ticks down. Chelsea not a threat at the moment.
- 56' Lampard looks to flick forward on the turn, but it is blocked by Williams. Solid defending again by the home side, who edge ever closer to that date at Wembley.
- 54' Davies sends a long cross behind the goal. Poor from the youngster.
- 53' Another break by Swansea ends with Hernandez, who cannot find a way past Cole on the right.
- 51' Away come Chelsea, Ba striking low for goal from 20 yards... just wide!
- 50' Swansea open up the Blues but a poor touch from Rangel as he looks to come inside from the right allows the tackle.
- 49' Hazard gets up gingerly. Torres looks moody on the bench.
- 48' No-nonsense from Williams as he thumps the ball into the stand, sending Hazard sprawling in the process. The home fans love that!
47' Lovely passing from Swansea and Hernandez is sent behind the away defence - but the flag is up.
46' The second half underway.- - Apologies for the technical problems – you will have (probably) been pleased to find that I am, in fact, not dead.
- 45+2' Half-hearted shout for a penalty for Chelsea for handball - and that brings the half to an end.
- 45+1' A mix-up in the Swansea defence allows Ba to fire at goal from the edge of the box – just over!
- 45' There will be two minutes added on.
- 44' Swansea just holding on now until the break.
- 42' Hazard on the left and crosses low into the box, where Williams again clears for the Swans.
- 39' Ki is down hurt following a challenge and hobbles to the touchline.
- 37' Mata uses quick feet to nutmeg Flores, but the ball ricochets off him and out for a goal-kick.
- 36' Oscar free in the box but cannot quite get a shot off as the Swansea fans have a sharp intake of breath.
- 36' Oscar free in the box but cannot quite get a shot off as the Swansea fans have a sharp intake of breath.
- 34' Chelsea beginning to build pressure, with a late block on the edge of the box by Williams keeping them at bay.
- 33' Swansea are increasingly knocking the ball long to Michu. He's obviously a good target man but that's not really there game, is it?
- 32' Loose pass from Mata, but De Guzman's attempt to intercept is equally poor and it sets up Ramires, who whacks the ball out of play. Not the best quality from anyone there...
- 31' Half an hour gone, and Swansea will take two more like tht. But Chelsea are looking increasingly dangerous, and have to crowd around Oscar to prevent him getting his shot away inside the box!
- 30' Chelsea can open Swansea up here as Hazard slides it through to Mata on the right side of the box - but his attempt to dink a right-foot cross is blocked! That was a real opening.
- 29' Cahill tries a raking, long through-ball. It is beyond everyone and goes out for a goal kick.
- 28' Now it's Swansea's turn to build methodically. A little too methodically, in fact, and it all gets a bit predictable. Chelsea intercept and come clear.
- 27' Ba hits it diagonally through to the edge of the box where Hazard touches it on to Oscar but the Brazilian just cannot catch up with the ball.
- 26' De Guzman tries a through ball but is clearly not on the same wavelength as whoever his intended target is - the ball narrowly misses the corner flag on its way out for a Chelsea throw.
- 25' Ramires tries his luck from 25 yards! It's a powerful low shot that misses everyone and Tremmel holds it. A little deflection could have given the keeper a real problem.
- 24' Oscar fires a 30-yarder and again Williams is there to block it. Swansea bring the ball away... and Michu is offside again.
- 23' The visitors growing in influence here... could be a nerve-shredding night for both sets of fans.
- 22' Corner half-cleared but only as far as Hazard, who threads his left-foot shot beyond the defender but it does not have the power to trouble Tremmel.
- 21' Cole fires a low cross in front of goal, forcing Ashley Williams to put the ball behind for a corner.
- 20' Chelsea take a corner short on the right... Mata crosses deep and it goes out for another corner.
- 19' Pablo Hernandez tries to lift a through ball to Michu - it is just cut out, and it would have been interesting to see if the offside flag would have gone up if the ball had got through. Well, not that interesting...
- 18' Useful player, that Michu. He scores goals AND he does the Emile Heskey stuff...
- 17' Rangel plays a diagonal ball to the edge of the box where Michu knocks the ball down for De Guzman! The ball slams into Cahill and Swansea appeal for handball! Nothing doing, say Chris Foy.
- 16' Swansea have made the positive start we expected. That has to be the right move. You can't sit back and defend a lead for this long unless you're, well, Chelsea.
- 15' Lofted over the top towards Michu... there's an offside flag up, and in any case Cahill makes an easy interception.
- 14' Having bowed to the elements and put a coat on at the weekend, Benitez is just in a suit on the touchline. Grrrr... and, indeed, Brrrr.....
- 13' As I waffle, Swansea continue to dominate though they are unable to carve out any more clear chances.
- 12' Sorry, getting confused - Chelsea are obviously the away team. A 3-1 win favours them, but only after extra time.
- 11' Just a reminder of the rules - the away goals rule is only used at the end of extra time. So if Chelsea win 3-1 it's extra time. But if there are no more goals, Chelsea would then win on away goals.
- 10' What a vital save by Cech - if Swansea score, Chelsea will need three to take it to extra time.
- 9' Great save Cech! Britton finds Routledge who supplies Michu with a brilliant through ball - the Spaniard hits a left-foot shot towards the right corner but Cech dives to his left to save superbly!
- 8' Great response from Swansea, who immediately go down the other end and Routledge sees a well-struck volley deflected for a corner. That looked goalbound.
- 7' And here's the first talking point! Ba knocks the ball past Davies and appears to be fouled as he runs through - he goes down but does not get the penalty! Looked like a spot-kick to me!
- 7' Chico clears at the edge of the Swansea box - neither side has been troubled at the back so far. That will change, of course.
- 6' Chelsea pass the ball around among the back four just inside their half. Swansea not closing down from the front. No need at the moment.
- 5' Very little of note happening on the pitch. The playing surface itself is absolutely fine, and completely clear of snow.
- 4' Ashley Cole gets booed. Not entirely sure why. Clearly he's not a popular man but there must be more to it than that.
- 3' 'Champions of Europe, we know what we are!' sing the visitng fans. Erm, how did that title defence go?
- 2' Ironic cheers greet a backpass from Branislav Ivanovic - he was at fault for both Swansea goals at Stamford Bridge.
1' And off we go! Chelsea play from left to right as we see it. They are all in blue, Swansea all in white.- 19:44 Handshakes between Michael Laudrup and Rafa Benitez - both men have coached in Spain, of course. What an atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium.
19:40 While you're waiting for the game to start, why not sign up for the latest updates from Eurosport on Twitter? You can find us on @EurosportCom_En - FOLLOW!- 19:35 The game goes ahead despite snow in South Wales. The council have gritted the approaches to the stadium to enable fans to attend without problem - but is still snowing.
- 19:30 Rafa Benitez: "We have to score, we have to win. We have confidence we can do it. Obviously we are playing a good team, but if you remember the first leg, we had a lot of chances then we made two mistakes and they scored. Now, we have to manage the situation, but our games away have been quite good so we are confident we can do it."
- 19:25 Michael Laudrup: "They have been much better away that at home. They won 4-0 at Stoke, they got five against Southampton and against Leeds. They also won at Everton, so they are maybe the best away team in the Premier League. It is different to start a game from 0-0 rather than 2-0, but the only danger is if we think can go out and just defend, 90 minutes is a very long time to do that. We have to be prepared to do a little of both."
- 19:20 The first leg at Stamford Bridge ended in a shock 2-0 win for the away side - and after Bradford's humbling of Aston Villa last night, the Swans will fancy their chances in this competition. First leg report
- 19:15 Centre-half Chico Flores is fit and starts for Swansea. The Spaniard missed the win over Stoke with a knee injury, but has returned in time for the Liberty Stadium encounter as Swansea target a place at a first major cup final. Gerhard Tremmel returns in goal having started in all previous rounds of the competition. Leon Britton also returns. Midfielder Kemy Agustien is out with an ankle problem.
- 19:10 Demba Ba starts up front for Chelsea with Fernando Torres on the bench. John Terry is again on the bench after he was an unused replacement for the draw with Southampton and Sunday's defeat of Arsenal. Nigeria duo John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses are at the African Nations Cup while long-term absentee Oriol Romeu (knee) remains sidelined.
- 19:05 SWANSEA: Tremmel, Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies, Britton, de Guzman, Ki, Routledge, Hernandez, Michu - Subs - Vorm, Monk, Tiendalli, Lamah, Dyer, Shechter, Graham CHELSEA: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Ba - Subs - Turnbull, David Luiz, Torres, Ferreira, Terry, Bertrand, Marin
- 19:00 Welcome to live text commentary of the second leg of the League Cup semi-final between Swansea and Chelsea.
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Summary
- 90+5' Dyer unleashes a drive towards the near-post top corner that Cech palms over. All over bar the shouting.
- 90+2' Outstanding flick by Michu to send Ki away down the left and he crosses low for Dyer, whose shot is blocked and wins a precious corner.
- 80' CHRIS FOY SENDS HAZARD OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- 78' Controversy as Hazard tries to get the ball off a ball boy, who falls on the ball to protect it! Hazard boots the ball into his midriff and a melee ensues.
- 73' Mata plays into Ba's feet and goes immediately to collect the return ball and strike a dipping effort towards the far post, saved and held brilliantly by Tremmel! The away fans behind that goal thought that was in!
- 51' Away come Chelsea, Ba striking low for goal from 20 yards... just wide!
- 31' Half an hour gone, and Swansea will take two more like tht. But Chelsea are looking increasingly dangerous, and have to crowd around Oscar to prevent him getting his shot away inside the box!
- 30' Chelsea can open Swansea up here as Hazard slides it through to Mata on the right side of the box - but his attempt to dink a right-foot cross is blocked! That was a real opening.
- 25' Ramires tries his luck from 25 yards! It's a powerful low shot that misses everyone and Tremmel holds it. A little deflection could have given the keeper a real problem.
- 22' Corner half-cleared but only as far as Hazard, who threads his left-foot shot beyond the defender but it does not have the power to trouble Tremmel.
- 17' Rangel plays a diagonal ball to the edge of the box where Michu knocks the ball down for De Guzman! The ball slams into Cahill and Swansea appeal for handball! Nothing doing, say Chris Foy.
- 9' Great save Cech! Britton finds Routledge who supplies Michu with a brilliant through ball - the Spaniard hits a left-foot shot towards the right corner but Cech dives to his left to save superbly!
- 8' Great response from Swansea, who immediately go down the other end and Routledge sees a well-struck volley deflected for a corner. That looked goalbound.
- 7' And here's the first talking point! Ba knocks the ball past Davies and appears to be fouled as he runs through - he goes down but does not get the penalty! Looked like a spot-kick to me!
- 19:05 SWANSEA: Tremmel, Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies, Britton, de Guzman, Ki, Routledge, Hernandez, Michu - Subs - Vorm, Monk, Tiendalli, Lamah, Dyer, Shechter, Graham CHELSEA: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Ba - Subs - Turnbull, David Luiz, Torres, Ferreira, Terry, Bertrand, Marin
Team Line-up & Ratings
Swansea CityManager: Michael Laudrup
ChelseaManager: Rafael Benítez
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Line-up
Live Team Line-Up
Starting line-up
- G. Tremmel
- A. Rangel
- A. Williams
- Chico
- B. Davies
- L. Britton
- J. de Guzman
- S. Ki
- Pablo
- W. Routledge
- Michu
Subs
Starting line-up
Subs
- J. Terry
- F. Torres
81′ - Paulo Ferreira
- R. Turnbull
- R. Bertrand 86′
- David Luiz 68′
- M. Marin
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Rate Players
Walshie i agree some teams have as in chelsea/man city & blackburn but then when you look back at Man Utd & Liverpool they made it thru bringing young players thru thier accademies or from other teams & turning them into great players or by buying one or two big names to steady the ship altho Liverpool reacently have lost thier way. As for the ball boy incident between Swansea & Chelsea it doesnt matter what the ball boy did or not there was no reason for Hazard to act like he did he is a professional football player playing for a top club & should know better.
Graham, I respectfully disagree. Blackburn bought the title too.
In regard to Walshies comment. Only two teams have tried to buy the league and that is Chelsea and man City. They have had to rely on massive handouts from their relative owners. All the other clubs have to rely on their expertise in Marketing ticket sales etc to make a profit and have money available to buy new players. As for last nights debacle reminds me of the Cantonas kick at a spectator at Crystal palace and some of us can remember the penalty he received for his illegal actions. Irrespective of the actions of the ballboy the action taken by Hazzard is totally unacceptable and he should receive a very lengthy suspension not the normal three match suspension for other offenses which occurred on the field of play.
Paul What team post 1975 or so hasn't bought the title. The title has always been won by teams that bought the best and most expensive players and paid the most wages
Chelsea, what's next no Champions League, only in the CL by default anyway, not in the top four. Blackburn bought their way to the top, now the slide begins. Cannot beat Swansea over 2 legs, let's watch and see!
king Marin !
Hey, Robert S, That numpty deserved everything he got, including the prison sentence. He's happy to rush down from the stands to shout racist filth at Cantona but he cried like a baby when Cantona kicked him in the chin. He thought he'd get money out of it, all he got was a prison term. Matthew Simmons, I hope your cell mate had a 12" #$%$ and you got to know every inch of it.
I just saw the hazard incident. The red card should be overturned and Hazard should receive no further sanction. The histrionics out of the ball boy were ridiculous. Hazard did not injure him. He didn't kick out aggressively. He didn't lose his temper. He kicked the ball free of the ball boy and immediately went to retrieve it. This was a nothing nonsense. I never thought I'd be defending Chelsea but there you go.
First as a Tottenham supporter ....i would say i am really glad that Swansea got trought...! Not that i hate Chelsea but i like Swanse`s policy...not a big spending club, but really close togeather as a team which is very sympathetic indeed! And yes, Eurosport, ....Hazard (as much as i admire him as a player) should be definatly sent off for that... (an example ...see Bulgaria vs Armenia)....this is a disgrace to the soccergame...and he has to be punished. I am expecting 5 to 10 match ban!
eden hazard should have been more professional ,why do clubs have ball boys from home clubs the fa should have trained ball boys not assiociated to home clubs ,just like in tennis ,,ball boys from home clubs waste time every week when the ball goes
Ball boy has NO right to hold game up and ref should have stepped in then! As for the lad if he thinks he can take part in the game then he can take the pain. How anyone is comparing this with Cantona physically assaulting a fan I dont know
If a ballboy is stopping you from getting an added bonus of a few thousand pounds, then I'm not saying it is justified, but a fair reason to be angry! The trouble is that money has become the primary object of football and is not a sportsman's game anymore! Enough said!
When a player runs with the ball to the corner flag and protects the ball from the opponent to count down the last few minutes. Do you see the player kick the opponent in the ribs to get the ball. When they take ages to take throw ins, do they hit opponents in the ribs no.
In case anyone takes it the wrong way, i am not praising Hazard it was a classless act and he deserves to be banned for it..
the boy can not only cheat but act... swansea had a good game and did not need to tell their boys to act like little demons... teaching kids to cheat is it not a crime???
i hear manu looking for a new keeper looks like the kid got safe hands
To be fair to Hazard it was the only thing he done the whole game.
Leslie i found your comments re Cardiff funny. How about Wrexham, Newport, and the other teams in the lower english leagues join the league but they will have to join english fa first. and for those who wonder why there are welsh teams in the league it goes back years but did you know there are english teams in the welsh leagues. I am english by the way
Look you muppets are you blind...Hazard kicked at the ball hard that a CHILD was holding and definitely caught him in the ribs and could easily have injured his arm/s. As someone above said, he should have been arrested not just sent off. There is no justification for this and some of your comments about a child are a disgrace. Shame on the lot of you.
