{"id":77132,"date":"2023-02-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/?p=77132"},"modified":"2023-02-22T21:03:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T21:03:24","slug":"ten-years-on-ballboy-causes-chelsea-to-see-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2023\/02\/23\/ten-years-on-ballboy-causes-chelsea-to-see-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten years on &#8211; Ballboy causes Chelsea to see red"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years ago this week the Swans won their first &#8211; and to date only &#8211; major trophy when they lifted the Capital One Cup at Wembley following a 5-0 win over Bradford City.\u00a0 All this week we will take a trip back down memory lane with a look at the road to that trophy which started back in August 2012 &#8211; six months before the majestical final day.<\/p>\n<p>When the semi final draw was made it was certainly assumed that Chelsea would be heading towards a League Cup final as the Swans hoped for a first major final appearance but the Champions of Europe stood in their way over a two legged semi final.<\/p>\n<p>However, Michael Laudrup, Michu, Danny Graham and a certain ball boy had different ideas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='oNO1jaGVQs9oMwv7AalFmg' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/159938410' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'oNO1jaGVQs9oMwv7AalFmg',sig:'D9fx260GIpliUQdz26x0JaewBBMFEseMtPYbKq-XSZk=',w:'594px',h:'397px',items:'159938410',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>2nd Leg Report &#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/21038756\">BBC Sport<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Swansea City are into their first major Cup final after holding 10-man Chelsea to a scoreless draw in a controversial Capital One semi-final second leg at the Liberty Stadium.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The result gave them a 2-0 aggregate win, but was marred by the\u00a0sending off of Chelsea&#8217;s Eden Hazard after he appeared to kick a ball boy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Belgian midfielder was dismissed in the 80th minute after an incident behind the home side&#8217;s goal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Swans face\u00a0League Two Bradford\u00a0in the final at Wembley.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Hazard&#8217;s red card came after he tangled with a ball boy, who was slow getting the ball back into play. He appeared to lay on the ball and TV replays showed Hazard kicking him.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But the incident failed to take the edge off the celebrations at the Liberty Stadium, as the crowd sang their approval of Swansea&#8217;s stubborn resistance.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='SoxRXRx0SSZE23q2IaJWYg' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/159936809' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'SoxRXRx0SSZE23q2IaJWYg',sig:'qbPOgomFT8GA9-iSnblr9nF0lxfH8UBdAMItldU3ELk=',w:'594px',h:'389px',items:'159936809',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p><em>It was in stark contrast to the Chelsea players, who trooped off heads down as the party started around them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The result piled more pressure on interim manager Rafael Benitez as his side failed to maintain their recent good away form.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Like\u00a0the first leg\u00a0they had plenty of possession, but failed to turn it into a goal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>No one summed up Swansea&#8217;s determination better than Michu. His industry was exhausting to watch as he ploughed a lone furrow up front and chased every lost cause.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Small wonder the Swansea management were delighted when he signed a one-year contract extension before the game.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Benitez made a statement before the game, dropping Fernando Torres to the bench with Demba Ba leading the attack.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='gt9t7_jPSyx-VQS0v4v5IQ' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/159936620' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'gt9t7_jPSyx-VQS0v4v5IQ',sig:'KMXz625oT4LV4dNkn0z8NJ3_ee45kcInpFq8UCyjc5c=',w:'594px',h:'471px',items:'159936620',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p><em>Swansea, who were last in a major semi-final in 1964 when they lost 2-1 in the the FA Cup to Preston North End, welcomed back Chico Flores with Leon Britton coming in for Itay Shechter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The game took off in the seventh minute when Ba went down under a challenge from Ben Davies claiming a penalty, but got only a corner for his trouble.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Swans broke quickly at the other end with Jonathan de Guzman&#8217;s goalbound shot brilliantly blocked by Cesar Azpilicueta, while Petr Cech had to save after Michu was put through on goal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Chelsea hit back with Gerhard Tremmel forced into saves from Oscar and Ramires, though Gary Cahill went closest with a free header cleared off the line by Angel Rangel.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ba blasted over just before the half-time whistle, which the Swans were happy to hear.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And the Senegalese striker was quickly into action after the break, curling a shot just past Tremmel&#8217;s left-hand post.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='1BgKr6GnSExSZoUJDEWoMQ' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/159932976' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'1BgKr6GnSExSZoUJDEWoMQ',sig:'02gH-XnN_85cEUJkDt51Qy4128Skk1QziTGITF0aDMk=',w:'594px',h:'402px',items:'159932976',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p><em>Chelsea continued to probe, but their frustration grew and boiled over when Hazard tangled with the ball boy after another attack petered out.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Ba had to calm a clearly irate Swansea captain Ashley Williams and, after a long break, referee Chris Foy showed Hazard a red card.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Chelsea&#8217;s threat evaporated, and it was the Swans egged on by a euphoric crowd who finished the stronger, with Nathan Dyer forcing a superb save out of Cech.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='O_DxEhTQREJlUqTcpJ3Rwg' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/159934535' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'O_DxEhTQREJlUqTcpJ3Rwg',sig:'dK4m19koGd26l6EJP52NGwzz41EQ25eHX-xjBH_A50s=',w:'594px',h:'464px',items:'159934535',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten years ago this week the Swans won their first &#8211; and to date only &#8211; major trophy when they lifted the Capital One Cup at Wembley following a 5-0 win over Bradford City.\u00a0 All this week we will take a trip back down memory lane with a look at the road to that trophy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[293,49,203],"tags":[713,665],"class_list":["post-77132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-team","category-news","category-opinion","tag-chelsea","tag-the-2022-23-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}