FA Cup – Middlesbrough vs Chelsea: Chelsea and Middlesborough locked horns at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Despite doing fairly well in the second division and currently fighting for a spot in the playoffs. The hosts were second best on the night and were knocked out of the tournament after a 0-2 loss.
Lukaku scored the first goal at the end of a counter-attack in the 15th minute. It was Ziyech who bagged the result with an attempt from long range at the end of yet another counterattack in the 31st minute.
FA Cup – Middlesbrough vs Chelsea: Match Summary
Full-Time Score: Middlesbrough 0-2 Chelsea.
Middlesbrough (3-5-2): Lumley 5; Dijksteel 6, McNair 5.5 (Peltier 53min, 5.5), Fry 5 (Bamba 46, 7); Jones 7, Tavernier 7, Howson 6.5, Crooks 6.5, Taylor 5.5 (Bola 58, 5.5); Balogun 6 (Coburn 74, 6), Connolly 6 (Watmore 58, 6).
Booked: Peltier, Howson.
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Mendy 6; Azpilicueta 6.5, Silva 6.5, Rudiger 6.5, Sarr 7; Loftus-Cheek 7; Ziyech 8 (Kenedy 81), Mount 7.5, Kovacic 7 (Kante 68, 6), Pulisic 7 (Werner 68, 6); Lukaku 7 (Vale 84).
Scorers: Lukaku 15, Ziyech 31
Managers’ reaction
Middlesbrough manager Chris Wilder: “We played a full hit Man United, a full hit Tottenham and a full hit Chelsea. We hung in there with United and beat them on penalties. We fully deserved it versus Tottenham and we couldn’t find the right defensive moments tonight.
“Chelsea just find a way. It is the mentality of the group led by an incredible manager. They have stability with Thomas coming in and the other two clubs maybe don’t have that.
“Their skipper, Thiago and Rudiger just want to win and that’s why they win things and are champions.”
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel: “My players have not surprised me but they have impressed me,” said Tuchel following the 2-0 win which came 24 hours after the deadline passed for prospective buyers to submit bids to replace the sanctioned Roman Abramovich. “The trust and team spirit was impressive. That is the culture at our club.
“No matter what we do and how much we worry we cannot change the situation so we have to find a certain way of accepting the situation and accepting what we can influence.
“I feel very privileged, but there are 700 or 800 people working at Chelsea and they are very worried about their position so it is my responsibility to show the right spirit and positivity in a situation we did not cause and cannot change. The players have huge talent but with it comes huge responsibility and they are doing it for the people at Chelsea.”
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