Cardiff City 1-3 Chelsea: Super subs Garnacho and Neto seal EFL Cup semi-final berth
Chelsea are the first team to book their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals after digging deep to overcome League One leaders Cardiff City.
Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro Neto came off the bench to clinch Chelsea a 2-1 victory over Cardiff City and book their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Enzo Maresca changed his whole team after their win over Everton on Saturday, and it initially showed as Chelsea struggled to gain a foothold, with their best early chance seeing Benoit Badiashile blaze over the bar.
Isaak Davies provided a threat for Cardiff, with a delightful cross deflecting narrowly wide off Moises Caicedo after Nathan Trott had made a smart stop to deny Marc Guiu.
Cardiff could not turn their pressure into a lead, and Maresca introduced Joao Pedro and Garnacho at the break, effectively turning the momentum in Chelsea's favour.
The Argentinian saw a shot smothered by Trott but did find the breakthrough in the 57th minute; Dylan Lawlor gifted the ball to Facundo Buonanotte, who picked out Garnacho to slot his effort into the bottom-right corner.
Chelsea missed chances to double their lead, and Cardiff punished them for it, with David Turnbull stooping to flick Perry Ng's whipped delivery over Filip Jorgensen 75 minutes in.
Neto broke Cardiff hearts eight minutes later, though, guiding a low shot across goal into the bottom-left corner to restore Chelsea's lead.
Turnbull's attempt to find a second equaliser looped onto the roof of the net before Garnacho got his second in the third minute of stoppage time, with another fine, drilled shot across goal.
Data Debrief: Chelsea show off strength in depth
Despite making 11 changes, Chelsea still named a strong line-up, though there was little to split the teams in the first half, with the Blues accumulating 0.28 expected goals (xG) to Cardiff's 0.21. Maresca's side finished with 2.57 xG from their 18 attempts.
But the substitutes turned the game on its head, with Garnacho finishing with a team-high five shots, and Joao Pedro having four; none of Chelsea's starters managed more than two.
Chelsea have now progressed from each of their last six EFL Cup quarter-final ties, and have won their last six meetings with Cardiff in all competitions.
