Chelsea will play Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final after getting past Tottenham in a tense semi-final second-leg at Stamford Bridge.
The game finished 2-2 on aggregate in an entertaining 90 minutes which saw Fernando Llorente cancel out first-half goals from N’golo Kante and Eden Hazard.
It went straight to penalties and Spurs were the first to buckle with misses from Eric Dier and Lucas Moura.
David Luiz was left with the chance to send his side to Wembley on February 24th and the Brazilian did it convincingly, giving Paolo Gazzaniga no chance.
A reaction was needed from the Blues, not just because they started the second-leg a goal down but because of the heavy criticism they came under boss Maurizio Sarri following their limp defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
But Chelsea started with real purpose and took a deserved lead on 27 minutes through N’golo Kante’s low drive.
A corner from the left was cleared by Spurs but the ball fell straight to the midfielder who rifled the ball home – going through the legs of Ben Davies and Mousa Sissoko before catching Gazzaniga out.
Chelsea smelt blood at this point and doubled their advantage when Eden Hazard finished off a good move to fire home Cesar Azpilicueta’s low cross from the right on 38 minutes.
The goal gave the Blues a 2-1 lead on aggregate with Spurs looking shell-shocked at half-time.
But the visitors came out a different side and levelled the tie five minutes into the second-half when Fernando Llorente headed a delicious ball from the left past Kepa Arrizabalaga to send the travelling Spurs fans wild.
Both sides missed golden chances to win it in normal time – Llorente mistiming a volley from the edge of the box when he could have taken an extra touch, while Olivier Giroud headed Emerson Palmieri’s cross wide when it looked harder to miss.
It went to penalties and both sides scored their opening two spot-kicks before Dier blazed his over to give Chelsea the opportunity to gain an advantage.
Jorginho duly obliged and they were on the brink when Moura had his tame spot-kick saved by Kepa.
Luiz had the chance to send them to Wembley and did it with ease to ensure a 15th cup final in the last 16 seasons for the west Londoners.
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Source: talkSPORT
