Chelsea players celebrate after winning the Capital One Cup at Wembley Stadium in London yesterday. (Reuters)
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John Terry embellished his status to Chelsea fans as “captain, leader, legend” by scoring the goal that set his side on the way to a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup final at a rain-sodden Wembley yesterday.
The former England captain was once again a quite inspirational presence for the club that adores him as he defended like a lion and scored a 45th-minute goal to ease Chelsea nerves before Kyle Walker’s deflected own goal from a Diego Costa shot settled the final in the 56th minute.
It meant an ecstatic Terry lifting the League Cup 10 years since he first did so under Jose Mourinho’s watch—and just as in the last reign of ‘The Special One’, he will be hopeful that it signals an era of supremacy for the west London club.
It capped a perfect day for Chelsea, which may effectively have seen them claim two trophies, after their nearest Premier League title challengers Manchester City lost at Liverpool.
They are now five points clear with a game in hand and Mourinho, fresh from ending his personal drought of not having won any trophy for three years, still has a treble in his lofty sights with the Champions League also on the agenda.
And, with Chelsea on top of the league once again, Terry hopes the win at rain-soaked Wembley will prove a springboard to more glory.
“It’s the first trophy this season and it’s massive. It meant an awful lot to us when we won it in Jose’s first year in 2005 as well,” he said.
“That could be the start of something very good. We have to kick on and we have got the league to focus on, but it’s a great day and a great win.
“The pressure was there before the game, obviously, but that’s what cup finals do to you. In the first half it was even, but we controlled it a little bit better in the second half. We were deserved winners.
“The manager made it clear from the outset we were out to win this competition. It’s credit to the manager and the squad.”
There could be no argument about Chelsea’s superiority against a side who thrashed them on New Year’s Day even though Spurs had the better of a poor first half in which the one moment of real quality was when Christian Eriksen’s free kick for Spurs rattled Petr Cech’s bar.
Most interest seemed to stem from Costa’s desire to enjoy a war with everything that moved until Branislav Ivanovic was awarded a free kick on the right wing just before halftime, skillfully controlling Terry’s aimless hoiked effort towards the touchline and drawing the foul from Nacer Chadli.
From Willian’s free kick, chaos reigned as Danny Rose failed to clear, the ball deflected to Terry and his shot struck Eric Dier to leave Hugo Lloris helpless.
As the rain careered down after the break, Cesc Fabregas found Costa on the left edge of the box and his shot-cum-cross took a cruel deflection off Walker, beating hapless Spurs keeper Lloris on his near post.
Tottenham’s efforts to conjure a response were fairly soggy, with Eden Hazard and Fabregas coming closest to adding to the lead, and even when they did threaten, the immaculate Terry made a superb intervention to block Harry Kane.
Mourinho’s sentimental side then shone through as he brought Didier Drogba on in the 93rd minute, reuniting the three survivors of the 2005 triumph, Drogba, Terry and Cech.
