Middlesbrough Gain Edge over Chelsea in Carabao Cup Semis

Chelsea missed a host of chances as Championship side Middlesbrough earned a slender 1-0 advantage in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at a boisterous Riverside Stadium.

Hayden Hackney scored the only goal, opening up his body to slide home an Isaiah Jones cross in the first half.

Cole Palmer missed three presentable opportunities as Chelsea failed to score for the sixth time this season.

The second leg takes place on Tuesday, 23 January at 19:45 GMT.

Liverpool face Fulham in the other semi-final, with the final taking place at Wembley on Sunday, 25 February.

Both sides came into the game with 12 first-team players unavailable and the situation worsened for Boro boss Michael Carrick when striker Emmanuel Latte Lath and left wing-back Alex Bangura were forced off in the opening 20 minutes.

Latte Lath had capitalised on a poor Levi Colwill header to get in behind the Chelsea defence and was caught on the ankle by Axel Disasi, but the referee waved away penalty appeals and there is no video assistant referee system in operation at this stage of the competition.

Palmer’s first big miss came when experienced captain Jonny Howson gifted him the ball, 30 yards from the Boro goal. He drifted towards goals and looked to place in the corner but dragged wide.

Minutes later, Boro took the lead when Jones got in behind the Chelsea defence and twisted and turned Colwill, who struggled throughout, before his cross was turned in by Hackney, who had drifted off Moises Caicedo.

The goal was met with rapturous noise inside the Riverside, but the game soon returned to the familiar pattern of Chelsea attacks with Palmer turning over the bar after Enzo Fernandez’s effort was spilled by Tom Glover.