Swansea makes the FA Cup final after a controversial scoreless draw in a Capital One semi-final at the Liberty Stadium.
Chelsea FC travelled to the Liberty Stadium after the 2:0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the first leg. Benitez started Demba Ba on top and left Torres on the bench. It took until the 7th minute before Ba claimed a penalty after a Davies challenge, but referee Foy only pointed at the corner. Swansea goalie Tremmel was forces into several superb saves against Oscar, Ramires and Ba, but kept his sheet clean. Chelsea and Ba continued to pressure in the second half, but the frustrations grew and showed in the 80th minute when Hazard was dismissed after a red card for kicking a ball boy. Hazard kicked the ball boy after he laid on the ball to make up time for Swansea. Cech had to make a superb save in the last minutes against Dyer in front of the euphoric Swansea crowd. The game finished 0:0 and Swansea advanced after a 2:0 aggregate win.
For Swansea, this is the first League Cup final ever. The last time they played in a major semi-final in 1964 when they lost 2-1 in the FA Cup to Preston North End. The Swans face League Two Bradford in the final at Wembley.
Laudrup was delighted after the game: “Over two legs we just beat the European champions from last season, not conceding even one goal. I think it is absolutely fantastic. It was a game that I expected. There were moments when we had possession and moments when they had it. There were moments when we had to defend deep because of their quality and moments of counter attacking.”
About the opponent Bradford, he said: “We can say that this final is between the small fairytale and the huge fairytale. If our position and place in the final is a small fairytale what can you say about Bradford?”
Eden Hazard apologised after the game about his incident with the ball boy: “The boy put his whole body on to the ball and I was just trying to kick the ball. I think I kicked the ball and not the boy. I apologise.”
