Garnacho and Neto get Chelsea into the Carabao Cup semi-final

Against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola decided to rest his first-team players and sent 10 footballers from the bench. Manchester City lost 2-0 at home and the Spaniard admitted he made a mistake. His pupil Enzo Maresca decided to do the same in the Carabao Cup game against Cardiff. Totally logical, considering this was only a cup game against a third-tier side. After all, Chelsea has so many players that this was an excellent opportunity for the likes of Jorgensen, Acheampong, Tosin, Badiashile, Hato; Santos; George, Buonanotte, Gittens and Guiu to show something. Caicedo was the only regular in the team, since he was suspended and didn‘t play for three games. But they all disappointed and Garnacho and Neto had to come in and save the game in the second half.

They both scored in a 3-1 win which won‘t satisfy Enzo Marseca. Chelesa was awful in the first half and allowed an equalizer in the later stages of the game after the first shot Cardiff made in the second half. It was pure quality of Neto which prevented penalties. This game will soon be forgotten but Maresca got a better look at his reserves and he probably didn‘t like it. But the overall score means that the Blues are first semi-finalists of this year‘s Carabao Cup.

The first half was really bad and since that kind of display was a bit expected from a team which plays in League 1, it was totally unacceptable for a FIFA World Champion. The first (and only) meaningful chance the Blues had was in the 31st minute, when Caicedo passed the ball to Guiu, who tried with his left foot and forced keeper Trott to parry with his left leg. The hosts had two shots and were generally a better side. In the 35th minute, Davies passed Acheampong and got into the area. His effort was deflected by Caicedo, forcing Jorgensen to tip the ball just in time. The hosts had another decent chance in injury time, when Chambers escaped at the back post after a free kick, heading the ball across goal but Jorgensen grabbed it.

Young and upcoming starts Buonanotte and Gittens were terrible in the first half. Between them they have contested 14 duels and lost them all. They have both lost possession 10 times each too - the joint-most of any Chelsea players. But, Maresca decided to take out Guiu and George at halftime and introduced Garnacho and Joao Pedro in order to get any attacking going. He was right as the former Manchester forward scored after 12 minutes. First he had a great chance when Buonanotte finally made a good pass, but Trott saved it. Minutes later, this duo again combined but this time it was a goal. Buonanotte nearly made it 2-0 with a great shot in the top left corner but Trott brilliantly tipped it over. Cardiff were lost at that point and Maresca desperately tried to end the game wit the second goal and introduced Neto and Gusto. But totally opposite thing happened. In the 75th minute, Salech delivered an in-swinging cross from the right and Turnbull timed his run perfectly beyond the Chelsea defense before sending a superb header past Jorgensen. The stadium erupted as the home fans were ecstatic and believed that the dream was possible. But Pedro Nedo delivered a brutal blow with a winning goal eight minutes from time, before Garnacho scored another one in injury time.

EFL CUP - QUARTER-FINALS

Tuesday

Cardiff - Chelsea 1-3 (0-0)

/Turnbull 75 - Garnacho 57, 90+3 Neto 82/

Wednesday

22.30: (1.40) Man.City (5.00) Brentford (7.00)

23.15: (1.75) Newcastle (3.60) Fulham (4.90)

Tuesday (23.12)

23.00: (1.53) Arsenal (4.10) Crystal Palace (6.50)

***odds are subject to change***