Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Cardiff: Blues Rescued by Brilliant Substitute Performance

Chelsea punched their tickets to the Carabao Cup semifinals with a 3–1 victory over Cardiff City, but the win was slightly lackluster for the Blues.

Enzo Maresca’s men were concerningly poor in the first half, managing just one shot on target against the League One side. Alejandro Garnacho, who came on at half-time, turned the game around for the visitors with his first goal in his last eight appearances.

Yet even with the lead, Chelsea still allowed Cardiff to get back in the game, conceding an equaliser in the 75th minute. Had it not been for Pedro Neto’s late winner, the Blues were looking at a shock scoreline once the final whistle sounded.

Garnacho went on to bag his brace in stoppage time, but the unconvincing effort put forth by the Premier League giants will once again summon questions about their poor form away from Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea Player Ratings vs. Cardiff (4-2-3-1)

Moisés Caicedo (centre) put together another brilliant outing. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

GK: Filip Jörgensen—7.3: Forced to intervene more than he would’ve expected, but sharp when tested. Lacked accuracy in his service out the back.

RB: Josh Acheampong—7.6: Slightly tormented by Isaak Davies all night long, but still ended the match with the most duels won. Bright going forward.

CB: Tosin Adarabioyo—7.0: Caught sleeping on Cardiff’s equaliser that marred an otherwise solid outing.

CB: Benoît Badiashile—7.4: Brought some much-needed physicality to Chelsea’s backline and played hero with his six clearances.

LB: Jorrel Hato—7.3: Won the battle against Cian Ashford and effectively locked down the left flank.

CM: Andrey Santos—8.2: Looked right at home alongside Caicedo. Made six tackles, seven recoveries and set up the winning goal.

CM: Moisés Caicedo—8.5: Unsurprisingly the best player on the pitch for Chelsea. Controlled the tempo, picked out his teammates with dangerous passes and virtually untouchable with the ball at his feet.

RW: Tyrique George—6.0: Unremarkable in every sense. Never looked capable of producing much of anything when he got on the ball and did nothing to win himself more minutes moving forward.

AM: Facundo Buonanotte—8.0: Came alive in the second half. His well-timed tackles and subsequent passes created the two best chances for Chelsea, one of which led to the game’s only goal.

LW: Jamie Gittens—6.6: Lucky Maresca let him stay out for 66 minutes. Found no joy playing on the left and even less when he drifted over to the right. Easily bullied off the ball.

ST: Marc Guiu—7.0: Lacked confidence and rhythm. Bottled Chelsea’s best chance of the first half and was swiftly pulled at half-time.

Substitute	Rating (Out of 10)
João Pedro (46’ for Guiu)	8.8
Alejandro Garnacho (46’ for George)	7.4
Pedro Neto (66’ for Gittens)	7.6
Malo Gusto (66’ for Buonanotte)	6.0
Trevoh Chalobah (84’ for Acheampong)	N/A

Subs not used: Robert Sánchez, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Enzo Fernández.

Cardiff (4-1-4-1)

Starting XI: Nathan Trott; Perry Ng, Dylan Lawlor, Calum Chambers, Joel Bagan; Ryan Whintle; Cian Ashford, Joel Colwill, David Turnbull, Isaak Davies; Callum Robinson.

Subs used: Chris Willock, Yousef Salech, Alex Robertson, William Fish.

Player of the Match: Alejandro Garnacho

Cardiff 1–3 Chelsea: How the Game Unfolded at Cardiff City Stadium

Enzo Maresca was not happy with his side’s early efforts against Cardiff. | Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

It came as no surprise when Maresca deployed a much-changed XI from his team’s 2–0 victory over Everton at the weekend. What was a bit concerning, though, was Chelsea’s performance from nearly the opening whistle.

Although the Blues created a few half-chances in the first 20 minutes at Cardiff City Stadium, the visitors lacked the end product to truly test goalkeeper Nathan Trott. Maresca’s makeshift attack continuously made the wrong decision in the final third—taking one too many touches, slicing a finish or going for goal instead of squaring a pass.

Moisés Caicedo did what he could to help out his teammates up top; the Ecuador international created the best goalscoring opportunity for Chelsea in the first half, releasing Marc Guiu with a perfectly weighted pass in the 31st minute. The striker, though, held onto the ball for too long and save his shot from a narrow angle saved.

Just three minutes later, Cardiff looked on the cusp of finding the game’s opener. A blunder from Josh Acheampong gave Isaak Davies the time and space to drive into the box, where he attempted to play a cross across the face of goal. The ball was dangerously deflected, though, forcing a much-needed save from Filip Jörgensen.

Isaak Davies, Josh Acheampong — Isaak Davies (left) and Josh Acheampong battled all night long. | Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

The first half ended with a whimper for the Blues, who ultimately headed down the tunnel with their heads hanging low after such a disjointed 45 minutes against a League One side. Maresca was quick to introduce João Pedro and Alejandro Garnacho at half-time to give his team a spark up top.

The decision almost instantly paid off for the visitors. After Facundo Buonanotte made a clever tackle to win the ball back for his side, the 20-year-old sent a pinpoint cross from the right wing right into Garnacho’s stride. Except the substitute did not fully connect with his first-time strike, squandering the golden chance.

The two Chelsea men soon linked up again, though, in a nearly identical scenario. Buonanotte intercepted a poor pass out the back from Dylan Lawlor and quickly set up Garnacho to bury the breakthrough for the Blues in the 57th minute.

Maresca’s men took over the match as they looked to double their lead. Yet it was Cardiff who scored the game’s second goal. Perry Ng whipped in a cross that David Turnbull headed into the top corner to bring the game level with only 15 minutes left.

Just when the home crowd was buzzing with life, Pedro Neto smothered their hope at potentially advancing to the semifinals. A well-worked team sequence ended with Andrey Santos picking out the Portugal international, who fired a first-time, right-footed strike into the bottom corner to give Chelsea the lead.

Garnacho bagged his brace in stoppage time, sealing the game for Chelsea and sending the Blues through to the Carabao Cup semifinals.