Chelsea book their semifinals spot in the FA Cup
This season, Chelsea has booked their place in the FA Cup semi-finals after beating Middlesbrough 2-0 on Saturday night. Romelu Lukaku scored his 12th goal of the season as Chelsea beat Middlesbrough to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
Since recording consecutive Premier League victories over Chelsea’s José Mourinho’s in 2006, Boro has lost all nine games to Chelsea. Chelsea scored 21 goals during this nine-game winning streak, with Middlesbrough failing to break through the Blues’ defence once in return. Beating Chelsea is different from an inconsistent team like Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur. Still, Borough has an incredible run of nine victories at Riverside Stadium in all competitions and only scored four goals in one stretch.
Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at Riverside with goals from Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech thanks to two assists from Mason Mount. Chelsea put on a professional show at the Riverside Stadium with a 2-0 win to end Middlesbrough’s impressive FA Cup run in the quarter-finals. Faced with the searing atmosphere of Teesside and the Middlesbrough team that had beaten Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in previous rounds, Chelsea looked like a model of ruthless efficiency. Middlesbrough overtook Manchester United and Tottenham to reach the quarter-finals, but Chelsea had no such difficulty at Riverside Stadium.
It’s not that Middlesbrough failed to live up to the standards set for welcoming Tottenham last month; it’s just that Chelsea was able to keep them at arm’s length by delivering Chelsea knockout punches. Middlesbrough sees no reason why Middlesbrough can’t add Chelsea to their list of FA Cup scalpers, but Chelsea still has the defensive mind needed to rule out Boro’s inexperienced attack.
League side Middlesbrough knocked out Manchester United and Tottenham to the FA Cup semi-final, but when Romelu Lukaku capitalised on Mason Mount’s cross after Chelsea’s quick counter-attack, their hopes of another Premier League casualty were dashed. Middlesbrough has become one of the protagonists of the FA Cup this season, having knocked out Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur into the quarter-finals, with more than 30,000 home supporters hoping Chelsea will be added the list. The result means Chelsea have reached the FA Cup semi-finals in five of the past six seasons and will face Crystal Palace at Wembley next month.
As Thomas Tuchels noted after the Middlesbrough match, his ability to focus on events while the chaos reigns are ‘impressive’, as is how Chelsea handled the challenge of snapping their FA Cup streak. Thomas Tuchels is still in contention for the Champions League title, having faced Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, and is still in view for the FA Cup, having risen from the last eight for the 16th time in the previous 20 quarter-finals.
