The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

If you were like me, born in the 90s, then you would be used to the League Cup, being treated as one trophy that had the least priority over the others.

When Jose Mourinho was appointed Chelsea manager (the first time) in the early 2000s, it can be argued the attitude towards this trophy has changed since.

In Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign, for example, fans were accustomed to seeing United’s reserves playing lower league sides for example.

I argue the change of attitude towards what’s these days known as the Carabao Cup was very evident in the past two days.

On Tuesday, Middlesbrough, who have struggled to hit the impressive league form of last term, swept League Two side Port Vale away 3-0.

That means that Michael Carrick’s men are in the semi-final, where they will face Chelsea who knocked out Newcastle 4-2 on penalties.

The game finished 1-1 in normal time. Former Spurs defender Kieran Trippier, whose error saw the game get this far, was one of the players to miss their spot-kick for The Magpies.

It would only be Newcastle who would suffer penalty shootout heartache. Everton, who have been going well in the league, were beaten 7-6 on penalties against Fulham.

The Toffees were reliant on Beto finding a late leveller. Everton, who have had impressive wins against Burnley and Chelsea in their last four league games, would come up short on Tuesday night.

Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana were the men to miss their penalties, which allowed Tosin Adarabioyo to score the winning spot-kick.

Fulham go through at Everton’s expense which means that they play Liverpool in the other semi-final, dashing hopes of a Merseyside derby Carabao Cup semi-final.

The two-legged ties will be played in the weeks commencing 8 and 22 January.

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