Here are some numbers: 304.9 miles separates Stamford Bridge from Barrow’s stadium Holker Street; there are 64 positions in the English football pyramid between Chelsea and the Bluebirds and an astonishing £793million (estimated) difference in transfer values of the two squads.
Crucially, for Chelsea, there were five goals that separated the two sides on Tuesday night. A game Chelsea should absolutely be winning – and in style – but a tricky one nonetheless as Enzo Maresca prepared himself for a potential banana skin.
“This type of game, I’m always worried a lot because they are tricky games,” the Chelsea boss said at full-time.
“Football is full of these games, where you underestimate the other team; you concede goals and you concede chances but tonight I think the performance was very good and showed how serious we are.”
A first competitive meeting in 76 years saw Chelsea come out 5-0 winners.
Christopher Nkunku netted a hat-trick, Paul Farman scored an own goal via a Joao Felix free-kick that very unfortunately hit the Barrow goalkeeper on the back and Pedro Neto managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time since joining from Wolves in the summer. Below, Bobby Vincent discusses the main talking points from Stamford Bridge…
Maresca’s clear instruction to players
Prior to this game, the last Carabao Cup match Chelsea were involved in was the final against Liverpool last season.
An extra-time header from Virgil van Dijk saw the Reds, who had a very young side out, come out winners at Wembley – leading to the infamous “billion pound bottlejobs” comments from Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville.
Neville ripped into the Chelsea squad and slated their mentality and personality after losing in the final. Maresca usually rebuffs any questions or comparisons to what happened under Mauricio Pochettino last season. He often points out how difficult it is to judge given he was not present.
Maresca’s clear instruction to players
Prior to this game, the last Carabao Cup match Chelsea were involved in was the final against Liverpool last season. An extra-time header from Virgil van Dijk saw the Reds, who had a very young side out, come out winners at Wembley – leading to the infamous “billion pound bottlejobs” comments from Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville.
Neville ripped into the Chelsea squad and slated their mentality and personality after losing in the final. Maresca usually rebuffs any questions or comparisons to what happened under Mauricio Pochettino last season. He often points out how difficult it is to judge given he was not present.
