Newspaper reports
The Guardian, Paul Wilson: “Gaël Kakuta saw his last penalty of the shoot-out saved as Chelsea crashed out of the Carling Cup on a crazy night in east Lancashire. The 18-year-old reason for Chelsea’s deferred transfer window ban probably should not even have been taking a penalty, let alone the fifth, which Paul Robinson beat out, but Carlo Ancelotti got every other aspect of his tactics wrong and was responsible for his side playing for well over 40 minutes with 10 men.”
The Times, Tony Barrett: “A little more than a month after Chelsea’s disposition had been lifted to new heights, thanks to a 5-0 hammering of Blackburn Rovers, they were beaten after extra time and penalties in an enthralling and keenly fought Carling Cup quarter-final tie with the same opponents.”
Daily Telegraph: “Chelsea made the expected wholesale changes for this quarter-final, taking perhaps too much of a risk by resting seven players from the side that won at Arsenal on Saturday.”
Official Chelsea FC Website: “Despite coming back from a one-goal deficit to take the lead, a 10-man Chelsea, minus injured Salomon Kalou, were unlucky to lose out as Blackburn beat us 4-3 in the eventual shoot-out.”
Goal videos
9′ Kalinic 1-0
48′ Drogba 1-1
52′ Kalou 1-2
64′ Emerton 2-2
93′ McCarthey (pen) 3-2
120+2′ Ferreira 3-3
All normal time goals (highlights)
Managers’ reaction
Carlo Ancelotti: “We took a risk and Kalou had an injury, so we played with 10 men. Usually I don’t change three players at half time, but this time it was better to give experience to the players.
“This week our priority is the game against Arsenal and the game against Manchester City.
“We had a good team but the first half was not good, we didn’t enter onto the pitch with determination in the first half.
“The second half was better and above all with 10 against 11 we showed very good spirit, very good mentality and this is good for the future.”
Neil McDonald (Blackburn assistant manager): “I thought we really deserved the victory. We took the lead and played really well, but then they put their big gun on, which we had talked about, and he scores straight away.
“But I thought we fully deserved to go through and it is a fantastic result for everybody.”
Related links
- Chelsea’s golden child Gaël Kakuta ready to emerge from his gilded cage
- Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti targets Champions League