Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle (4-2 pens): Player ratings as Blues sneak through to Carabao Cup semi-final
Chelsea booked their place in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup with a dramatic victory over Newcastle United on Tuesday evening.
Having handed Callum Wilson an opening goal with some of the worst defending imagineable, Chelsea snatched an equaliser in stoppage time through Mykhailo Mudryk, whose 92nd-minute effort sent the tie to penalties.
Chelsea netted all four but Kieran Trippier struck wide and Matt Ritchie's decisive effort was denied by goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, whose safe hands steered Chelsea through to the final four.
Conor Gallagher struck the crossbar from range with the game's first real chance six minutes in. Lurking on the edge of the box, the England international collected possession and curled a beautiful effort which thundered away off the frame of Martin Dubravka's goal.
Newcastle fired themselves ahead ten minutes later. Catching Chelsea on the counter after Levi Colwill's misplaced pass, Wilson ran directly through the Blues' entire back line but looked to have ceded possession to Benoit Badiashile, who somehow failed to control the ball and handed it back to the Newcastle striker to fire home. A comedy of errors from start to finish.
Raheem Sterling struck wide as Chelsea searched for a response, before the winger's thumping effort was cleared a few yards in front of the line by Bruno Guimaraes.
The offside flag denied Armando Broja an equaliser in the 38th minute. The substitute striker questioned the call after dinking the ball into the back of Dubravka's net but replays showed it was clearly the correct decision.
The story of the first half could be summed up perfectly by the stats — Chelsea had 76% possession in the first 45 but had just one shot on target.
There was more life about Chelsea after
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