RAFA BENITEZ saw his jet-lagged Chelsea stars hit five to reach the Capital One Cup semis.
And he insisted more results like this one will make him popular.The boss is still not a hit with fans. But he said: “Winning games will make it easier getting everybody together.”
The Blues’ 12,000-mile round trip to the Club World Cup in Japan seemed to have left them weary as they trailed at half-time to Luciano Becchio’s strike.
But Juan Mata equalised just 65 seconds after the break before Branislav Ivanovic, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres all netted to set up a semi with Swansea.
Benitez said: “I’m pleased to win, pleased with the way we won and pleased that, coming back from Japan with the jet-lag and without sleeping too much, players were tired but still fantastic.
“The first half was good but the second half was a transformation.”
Leeds boss Neil Warnock and Benitez called a truce in their feud to shake hands before kick-off.
Warnock was furious at the Spaniard for fielding a weakened Liverpool team, which lost at Fulham in 2007. It helped the Cottagers escape relegation at the expense of Warnock’s Sheffield United, who then sacked their manager.
Warnock quipped: “I shook Rafa’s hand because I owe him big-time. Without him I wouldn’t have been able to manage great clubs like Crystal Palace, QPR and Leeds.”
1:31 AM
Unknown

Posted in:
0 comments:
Post a Comment