After a tantalizing game last night at the Stamford Bridge, the giant beaters Derby County are finally out of the Carabao Cup, after losing 3-2 to Chelsea.
The side managed by Chelsea legend and former player, Frank Lampard are out of the League cup, but with their head held high, as the Derby manager insists his side were unlucky not to have taken home the win.
The game started at the Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea going ahead as early as 5 minutes from Chelsea loanee, Fikayo Tomori own goal. Jack Marriott equalised, and a few minutes later Derby scored yet another own goal through Richard Keogh.
The visitors played well, as they did not show any sign of fear, taking the game to their host which lined up more experienced players. But Martyn Waghorn levelled the scores for the visitors in an entertaining opening period.
Fabregas was the hero of the night as he scored to end the game 3-2 in favour of Chelsea, bringing the League cup journey of Derby County and Frank Lampard to an end.
While reacting to the game and the result at the Bridge, the first time manager, Frank Lampard praised his boys, saying he is proud of them, and deserved more from the game than what they got. He said:
“We worked our socks off from the first minute until the last. Even though we gave poor goals away, we earned goals through our character and we got back into the game.
“It was a good occasion for me on a personal note but what the players did on the pitch, it was outstanding.
“The difference today was inches. Chelsea put out a strong team today and that was a fair respect to our boys and we were unlucky.”
It was a special night for the manager who returned to Stamford Bridge for the first time tonight as a manager.
On his return to Chelsea:
“I thank the Chelsea fans because it’s rare an opposition manager gets that, hence why I went there first because I wanted to finish with the Derby fans,”
“I thought they were amazing and absolutely incredible, not just with me but for the team. To travel down in numbers, support the team in a difficult game, I thank them. My present is Derby and I want to be successful here and we thank them for their support now.”
On the Carabao Cup journey:
“It was good Carabao Cup from the beginning to the end; Oldham, Hull, obviously Old Trafford, and then to perform like that here tonight, people are watching that so we have set our standards.
“We can’t accept that those standards don’t remain. Not every game is at Stamford Bridge in front of this and on TV but every game is as important for us now so we must focus on the league.”
“There is a lot of work put in there tonight so we will have to recover and we will see where we are squad wise come Saturday,”
“We have two massive games coming up but we can never relax. Our good stuff is to do with our work rate and the work we do off the ball. If we relax that then we are not the team we want to be.”