Middlesbrough have drawn Chelsea in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup with old rivalries set to be reignited as Michael Carrick‘s side look to book their place at Wembley.
The last time the two sides met was in an FA Cup Quarter Final in 2022, with Steve Gibson taking aim at the conduct of the London club following their request for the game to be played behind closed doors.
Government sanctions
Government imposed sanctions at the time (that related to previous owner Roman Abramovich) meant that Chelsea were prevented from selling tickets for that particular clash and Boro supremo Gibson was incensed at Chelsea’s proposal to play in front of no fans. He told The Telegraph, “The words ‘sporting integrity’ and Chelsea don’t belong in the same sentence. For 19 years, money has fuelled the success of Chelsea Football Club.
“Our fans, our club, our players and our manager have done nothing wrong. If Chelsea were to succeed, and the game be played behind closed doors, does that mean all the Premier League games have to be played behind closed doors? And all the Champions League games? And for what reason? Because of their owner, all the rest of us have to suffer.
“This has to be kicked out and [Chelsea chairman] Bruce Buck should be kicked out.”
Continuing the fierce rebuke, he added, “It’s got to be kicked out and it’s abhorrent,” he added. “This rotten football club, Chelsea. We pick up the newspapers and read about Abramovich and the way he conducted his life, and we see what’s going on in Ukraine, and it’s beyond comprehension. It really is.”
Gibson has never been an individual to avoid taking on authority if he feels something is unjust, as Boro fans will remember. In a statement made following his club’s demise to the second tier of English football in 1997, he alleged that they had been relegated by ‘men in grey suits’.
Boro seek revenge against old foes Chelsea
In terms of the current League Cup campaign, Michael Carrick’s troops are the only football league club left in the competition, with the other three teams coming from the Premier League. The other semi-final tie will see Fulham take on an in-form Liverpool who are now favourites for the trophy.
Middlesbrough booked their place in the competition’s last four with a comfortable 3-0 victory against League One outfit Port Vale, giving them the chance to right a few wrongs against old foes Chelsea in the semis. They were beaten by the Blues in the Zenith Data Cup Final in 1990, the FA Cup Final in 1997, and the League Cup final in 1998.
Carrick’s side are seen as outsiders for the tie and the competition overall, but there are some interesting parallels from the Cup winning campaign of twenty years ago, that could offer some perspective for the more optimistic fans on Teesside. Every tie to this point has been away from home, just as it has been this time around. Added to that, is the fact that Boro also faced stiff Premier League opposition in the semi-final in 2004, beating Arsene Wenger’s ‘invincibles’ 3-1 on aggregate. So, although difficult, the mission is far from impossible.
The two legged affair will take place on the 9th of January and the 23rd January with Middlesbrough at home in the first of the two games. The Carabao Cup offers the Boro boys an opportunity to write themselves into the history books and replicate the success they had in the same competition twenty years previous, where a certain Gareth Southgate captained them to glory against Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers.