Chelsea stroll past Middlesbrough into FA Cup semis | Football News

Middlesbrough got raucous assist contained in the Riverside Stadium however by no means actually appeared able to troubling the guests who had been all the time in management.
Chelsea, the article of a number of buyout bids, are working beneath a particular licence from the British authorities after Russian proprietor Roman Abramovich was hit with sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Only a couple of hundred Chelsea followers had been contained in the stadium – a consequence of restrictions on them promoting tickets – however they might at the very least rejoice their group reaching the semis for the fifth time in six seasons.

Since Abramovich introduced that he was placing the European champions up on the market on March 2 after 19 trophy-laden years, it has been very a lot enterprise as standard on the pitch.
They have received all six fixtures since, the most recent win coming the day after a deadline for bids to purchase the membership.
Despite the distractions, supervisor Thomas Tuchel has remained centered on successful video games, and the efficiency of his gamers on Saturday was medical.
“We were very focused and very serious. We showed the quality at decisive moments,” the German mentioned.

“The effort was huge and we never let them get a foot into the door after the two early goals. It was a deserved win.”
“Nothing we can do will change the situation and we accept that it’s not in our hands, but what is in our hands is setting an example and staying focused.”
Chelsea had attracted criticism in midweek for asking for the match to be performed with out followers to make sure “sporting integrity” in mild of them not with the ability to promote tickets.
They later retracted that request and the Riverside was rocking earlier than kickoff.
But when Mount was allowed to advance down the left after which delivered a slide rule cross to permit Lukaku to faucet dwelling, the percentages all the time appeared stacked in opposition to Boro.

When Ziyech’s shot then flew past Middlesbrough keeper Joe Lumley the hosts had a mountain to climb.
Chelsea might have added to their lead with Lukaku denied by a goalline clearance and Lumley doing effectively to maintain out Timo Werner’s late effort, whereas Boro hardly ever had a sniff of an opportunity.
It was Boro’s first dwelling defeat in 10 video games in all competitions, and their focus will now return to attempting to make the promotion play-offs.
For Chelsea, they’re nonetheless chasing silverware on two fronts after reaching the Champions League quarter-finals in midweek.
“We really have that winning mentality within the group. Any competition, any game, we want to win, and we want to keep that going,” Mount mentioned. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks but for us, as a team, we’re just focused and ready to play.”