Middlesbrough delivers a shocking blow to Chelsea, as they succumb to a 1-0 defeat in the initial leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. The Blues’ inefficiency proves costly against a lower-league opponent.

Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney sent the Riverside Stadium into a frenzy as he celebrated his first-half goal in the Carabao Cup Semi Final First Leg match against Chelsea. The goal has given Middlesbrough a crucial advantage to take to Stamford Bridge in two weeks’ time.

Despite Chelsea’s dominance in possession, they struggled to create many scoring opportunities. Cole Palmer had two golden chances in the first half, both resulting from Boro mistakes, but failed to convert them into goals.

Middlesbrough showed great resilience after losing two key players, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura, within the first 20 minutes of the game. Michael Carrick’s side deserves credit for overcoming this setback and still managing to take the lead.

The breakthrough came just eight minutes before halftime when Isaiah Jones made a blistering run down the right flank, shrugging off Levi Colwill’s attempts to stop him. Jones then delivered a precise cross into the six-yard box, where Hackney met it with lightning speed and calmly side-footed it into the far bottom corner of the net.

The two teams will meet again on January 23 at Stamford Bridge for the second leg of this thrilling Carabao Cup semi-final clash.