Carabao Cup quarter-final: Cardiff City 1 (Turnbull 75) Chelsea 3 (Garnacho 57, 90+3, Neto 82)
As Facundo Buonanotte saddled up beside Alejandro Garnacho on the advertising hoardings in front of the pocket of away supporters after the latter opened the scoring at a jam-packed Cardiff City Stadium, for a moment or two everything seemed all right in the often chaotic world of Chelsea. Then, with 15 minutes remaining, the hosts equalised through David Turnbull’s sublime diving header and another awkward 48 hours were on the cards for Enzo Maresca.
Questions would surely have been asked of him by the Chelsea hierarchy had the League One leaders reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals at their expense. Fortunately for Maresca and Chelsea, the substitute Pedro Neto struck a late goal, his low shot sparing the Premier League side any embarrassment. Garnacho’s second in stoppage time sealed the result.
Cardiff were determined to savour the occasion, this stadium a sell-out for a club match for the first time since April 2019, when Liverpool visited in the Premier League, when Neil Warnock was in the home dugout. These days it’s Cork man Brian Barry-Murphy, by his own admission a Pep Guardiola obsessive.
Barry-Murphy, like Maresca, is also a Guardiola protege of sorts. The 47-year-old got to know Guardiola across three years in charge of Manchester City’s development squad, after leaving Rochdale following relegation to League Two. “I was pretty sure he didn’t know where Rochdale was but he brought me into his office on my first day and immediately made me feel really valued,” said Barry-Murphy.
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He saw Maresca at close quarters and also worked alongside the Italian’s assistant Danny Walker at City. So there was a warm hug with Maresca and Walker before kick-off and while Cole Palmer was among those rested, there was a familiar face in the Chelsea starting line-up in Facundo Buonanotte, whom Barry-Murphy worked with at Leicester last season. Maresca made wholesale changes, with Moisés Caicedo captaining a youthful side that featured four teenagers, while Tosin Adarabioyo was the only player over the age of 24 in the visitors’ starting line-up.
Cardiff made five changes but retained the Welsh core, with five home-grown players in their XI, including the tenacious Joel Colwill, who together with his elder brother, Rubin, sidelined through injury, were at Wembley in 2012 when Cardiff reached the final of this competition. That day the Wales manager Craig Bellamy, an interested spectator here, entered as a substitute for Liverpool. In some ways it was a case of role reversal, with Bellamy in the technical area and Barry-Murphy watching from the stands when Wales hosted Belgium in October in front of a packed crowd.
Two academy graduates particularly enjoyed stretching their legs as the League One leaders took the game to the world champions in an entertaining first half. Cian Ashford kept Jorrel Hato on his toes down the right flank and on the opposing wing Isaak Davies bypassed Josh Acheampong to send a cross-shot into the box, Caicedo diverting the ball for a corner. Davies skewed an earlier chance wide after beating Acheampong and Callum Robinson sent a header at Filip Jörgensen.
Chelsea were disjointed and unconvincing, their most inviting first-half opening falling to Marc Guiu. Caicedo displayed a moment of class to spin clear of Colwill on halfway and released Guiu, whose shot was twice repelled by the former West Ham goalkeeper Nathan Trott. Maresca was seemingly not too enamoured of his side’s tame performance – they lacked any kind of urgency – and introduced Garnacho and João Pedro in place of Tyrique George and Guiu.
Cardiff were growing in confidence but then Chelsea finally began to flex their muscles. Buonanotte pinched possession from Calum Chambers on halfway and then sent a wonderful right-foot cross into the box. Garnacho drifted towards the penalty spot and his first-time effort forced Trott into a smart stop down to his left. The Cardiff goalkeeper then blocked a João Pedro strike. Chelsea were dialling up the pressure but Garnacho’s goal stemmed from an early Christmas Cardiff gift.
Dylan Lawlor, the 19-year-old Wales centre-back enjoying a breakout season, inadvertently sent a pass straight to Buonanotte and Cardiff were outnumbered in defence. Buonanotte charged towards goal and spied Garnacho to his left, the Argentinian finding the far corner with a neat first-time strike. Garnacho and Buonanotte celebrated by sitting on the advertising hoardings, João Pedro pretending to take a photograph of the pair as they posed. Lawlor, meanwhile, was livid with himself and for a few minutes Cardiff were vulnerable. On the hour Buonanotte sent a delicious shot at goal that required a fingertip save from Trott.
With penalties looming, João Pedro shifted the ball to Andrey Santos, who moved it on to Neto to dispatch a low diagonal strike into the far corner. Relief for Maresca and Chelsea. – Guardian
