Gary Cahill has urged Chelsea to draw on the memory of last season’s UEFA Champions League success when they face Swansea City in the second leg of their English League Cup semi-final today.
Rafael Benitez’s side travel to the Liberty Stadium trailing 2-0 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge and face a daunting challenge if they are to clinch a place in the Wembley final.
However, they head to south Wales lifted by the 2-1 weekend win over Arsenal that centerback Cahill claims has revived the club’s Premier League title ambitions.
Photo: EPA
The England international believes their performances in last season’s European campaign, which included a penalty shootout win in the final against Bayern Munich in a match played on the German club’s own ground, proved they are capable of defying the odds when silverware is at stake.
“It’s not beyond us,” Cahill said. “We have done it before in the Champions League. It’s going to be tough because it’s a hard place to go. The key is getting the first goal, if we get it then it will be a nervous night for them. That’s what we’re aiming to do.”
Chelsea’s away form under interim manager Benitez has been formidable and they will confront Michael Laudrup’s side on the back of six successive domestic victories on their travels and Cahill is confident they can now embark on a run that will take them closer to the Premier League top two, Manchester United and Manchester City, as well as inspire success in the cup competitions.
“Yes, we are looking at the Manchester clubs. It has been frustrating because there have been many times this season where we have nearly got ourselves back involved and then let it slip, but we are more than capable of putting a run together and winning nine out of 10 games. That’s what we need to aim for and see where it takes us,” he said. “We have got to make sure we are in one of the spots for the Champions League. We also have the cup competitions and we want to go as far as we possibly can in them.”
However, Cahill warned fatigue could count against the Blues.
“At the minute, it’s impossible to feel 100 percent fresh. It is difficult, but we can’t use it as an excuse,” he said.
David Luiz is set to return to the squad after missing the Arsenal game with an ankle problem, but doubts remain about captain John Terry’s match fitness.
Swansea’s progress this season has been such that Laudrup has figured prominently among the list of contenders to become the permanent manager at Chelsea at the end of the season.
The Denmark playing great’s reputation will only be enhanced if he can steer Swansea to the first major cup final in the club’s 100-year history.
That would complete a remarkable success story for a club that escaped relegation into non-league soccer on the final day of the 2002-2003 season.
Long-serving midfielder Leon Britton, involved in that battle for survival, said: “This would be massive for me and everyone at the club to reach Wembley and the first major final.”
“It would be a great achievement. When you see the TV screens and it says Swansea were bottom of the Football League 10 years ago, and on Wednesday night we have the chance to play in a final, it shows how far we have come,” Britton said. “We can become legends because it will be the first time it’s happened. If we do get there, people will talk about the team that got to the League Cup final.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but