Carabao Cup: Nkunku Makes Debut As Chelsea Hit Semis, See Other Results

It was a thrilling encounter at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea took on a resilient Newcastle United in the 2023-2024 Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

In the first five minutes, Newcastle United showed promise of dominating Chelsea in the Carabao Cup quarter-final clash at Stamford Bridge but the Blues picked themselves up and controlled the game.

Even though Chelsea dominated the game in terms of ball possession, Newcastle United managed to steal the lead in the 16th minute courtesy of hardworking Callum Wilson.

The goal was a product of two successive errors from the part of the hosts, starting with Levi Colwill’s misplaced pass to Moisés Caicedo. Thiago Silva and Benoît Badiashile almost solved the situation but Badiashile made the last error that Wilson took advantage of.

After the goal, Chelsea continued to press and dominate the game but couldn’t take advantage of the numerous chances that fell on their path.

Chelsea continued with the high-pressing game in the second half but despite their dominant display, they couldn’t do much in the box.

Out of frustration, coach Mauricio Porchetino decided to bring in Christopher Nkunku in the 69th minute for Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk for Raheem Sterling in the 78th minute.

This means that Nkunku who is just returning from over five months of injury layoff, made his first competitive appearance for Chelsea in the 2023-2024 Carabao Cup quarter-final game against Newcastle.

It was not until the 92nd minute, including injury time, that the changes yielded the desired result as Mudryk took advantage of Kieran Trippier’s misplaced header to score the equalizer.

Since there is no room for extra time in the Carabao Cup, the game was decided via penalties as Matt Ritchie and Trippier missed their spot kicks to knock out Newcastle United from the competition. Interestingly, Nkunku scored his kick as Chelsea won 4-2 on penalties.

Below are the results of the 2023-2024 Carabao Cup quarter-final games played on Tuesday night, December 19, 2023:

Everton vs Fulham
6:7 on penalties

Port Vale vs Middlesbrough
0:3

Chelsea vs Newcastle United
4:2 on penalties

Note that the last 2023-2024 Carabao Cup quarter-final game will take place at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20 between Liverpool vs West Ham United. On the said day, the draw for the semi-final round will be made.