Middlesbrough 0-0 Chelsea – Carabao Cup semi-final: Live score, team news and updates as Hayden Hackney gives Championship hosts shock lead against the run of play as Blues are made to pay for missed chances

What a let off for Middlesbrough.

Howson has the ball inside his own third but a disastrous pass sees him give it away straight to Palmer.

The youngster bears down on goal but drags his shot wide. What a miss!

Hackney is then played in up at the other end, but takes his shot early and miscues it.

Middlesbrough make a rare foray forward.

Colwill heads clear but slips as he does so and Crooks picks up the loose ball.

He plays in Jones but Colwill drags him down cynically and is booked for the first yellow card of the game.

Almost brilliant from Madueke.

He’s played in and takes it around Clarke and then Howson.

Fry comes in to halt his progress right at the last moment.

From the resutling corner, a delicious ball from Palmer finds Colwill but he heads over.

That’s positive from the young Englishman though and much better from Chelsea.

Clarke has slotted into the left centre back role with Engel going out to left wing back.

Meanwhile, for Chelsea, Palmer is dropping deep as the false 9 to get himself involved more in their build-up play.

The Blues are having most of the ball, but Boro are defending deep and solidly so far.

Chelsea have started to control possession but Middlesbrough are holding firm so far and defending well.

But oh no! It’s even more of a disaster for Boro. Alex Bangura did well to edge out Noni Madueke and was fouled in the process.

But he’s down holding his hamstring and is going to have to come off.

Boro already had 12 players absent ahead of this evening and now they have two more within 18 minutes.

Matt Clarke is going to replace him. What a chaotic start for the hosts.

An early blow for Boro and a real shame for Emmanuel Latte Lath.

Disasi just caught him as he slid in to make the challenge for that early chance.

Bangura gets in down the left.

The defender whips in a dangerous ball but it’s just behind Coburn.

Enzo just about does enough to control and clear.

There’s an appeal for handball but his hand was by his side as the ball bounced up.

A good start from Middlesbrough though.

Latte Lath – who was caught by Disasi when he had that chance – won’t be able to continue.

He looks distraught as he heads down the tunnel and is replaced by Coburn.

Palmer then gets some space and fires at Glover but the Australian saves well.

In terms of how both teams are setting up, Middlesbrough are lining up with a back three with Jones and Bangura at wing back.

Chelsea have Cole Palmer as the No 9 with Sterling and Madueke either side of him.

Gallagher looks to be the most advanced midfielder out of him, Caicedo and Enzo.

A long ball from Glover looks routine, but Colwill tries to head back to Petrovic but gets it all wrong, and Latte Lath seizes on the ball.

He drives towards goal but Disasi dives in for the tackle and just about does enough with the striker scuffing his shot.

Latte Lath is down, but he looks OK to continue.

Middlesbrough kick us off.

A cup final beckons and Wembley awaits.

The atmosphere is electric inside the Riverside Stadium and Middlesbrough’s supporters are bang up for this.

Kick off is moments away and it promises to be a cracker.

With these two sides having only played once in the past seven years, Chelsea supporters may be unfamiliar to Middlesbrough’s playing squad.

Seven-goal top scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath is Boro’s biggest danger in attack, while keep an eye on England Under 21 midfielder Hayden Hackney who is the star of the show.

Isaiah Jones is also a potential danger and he is likely to line up on the right side of midfield or defence, depending on how they line-up..

Middlesbrough pushed Aston Villa all the way, but went down to defeat following Matty Cash’s late winner.

It was a promising performance though from Michael Carrick’s side, with Villa picking a strong team despite facing an opponent in the division below.

You can catch up on those highlights below too.

Chelsea come into this game on the back of a resounding 4-0 victory over Preston North End in the third round of the FA Cup.

After a slow start, second half goals from Broja, Silva, Sterling and Fernandez ensured Pochettino’s side would pass through to round four.

That’s now three wins in a row in all competitions for the Blues and you catch highlights from Saturday’s clash below.

That famous Middlesbrough triumph in 2004 came after a 2-1 victory over Bolton thanks to goals from Joseph-Desire Job and Bolo Zenden.

Boro’s team that day also included England manager Gareth Southgate.

And you can watch some great archive footage from that famous day at the Millenium Stadium below.

Middlesbrough have history with this competition, having lifted the trophy in 2003/04 when Steve McClaren was in charge.

They have had a dramatic run to the final four, winning five games to get to this stage.

After beating Hudderfield 3-2 in the first round, they then downed Bolton 3-1.

A trip to Bradford followed where Boro won 2-0, before they dramatically edged out Exeter 3-2 thanks to a late Emmanuel Latte Lath penalty.

In the quarter-final, Michael Carrick’s side thrashed Port Vale 3-0 to return to this stage for the first time since they lifted the trophy 20 years ago.

In a blow to Chelsea, there’s no Christopher Nkunku in the squad again.

The French star – who joined the Blues from RB Leipzig in the summer for £52m – only returned from a pre-season knee injury to make his debut in the Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Newcastle last month.

After three substitute appearances and one start, the forward picked up a hip injury which kept him out of the Preston victory.

He hasn’t recovered for this evening’s game and Pochettino revealed yesterday he wasn’t sure whether Nkunku would be back for Saturday’s clash with Fulham.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Monday, Mauricio Pochettino warned Chelsea to be humble and think about their current ‘reality’ — not the club’s history and badge — or they could be in for a shock against Middlesbrough.

In an unfortunate slip of the tongue that even he had to laugh at, Pochettino spoke about Chelsea preparing for a two-legged semi-final that will be ‘180 million’ rather than minutes.

Money is never far from the conversation around Chelsea and the gap in resources between the Blues and Championship Boro is one reason why the Londoners are big favourites to reach the Carabao Cup final.

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And it’s four changes for Middlesbrough from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.

Fry, Latte Lath, Howson and Crooks replace Clarke, Rogers, Greenwood and Coburn.

Boro are missing their first choice keeper Seny Dieng, who is away at AFCON with senegal.

Meanwhile, both Rogers and Greenwood – two of their most dangerous attackers – are out of tonight’s clash.

It’s unsurprisingly a strong team named by Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine makes three changes from Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Preston in the FA Cup.

Conor Gallagher, Levi Colwill and Noni Madueke replace Mykhailo Mudryk, Alfie Gilchrist and Armando Broja respectively, with the Blues naming just eight subs out of a possible nine.

(4-3-3): Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Thiago Silva, Colwill; Caicedo, Gallagher (C), Enzo; Madueke, Sterling, Palmer

Despite their status as a giant in English football, credit must also go to Chelsea for reaching the semi-finals, especially given it has not been an easy season for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Their run to the final four started back in August with a 2-1 victory over AFC Wimbledon in the third round.

They then defeated Brighton and Blackburn 1-0 and 2-0 respectively at Stamford Bridge, before a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Newcastle in the quarter-finals.

After a 1-1 draw in normal time – thanks to an injury-time equaliser
from Mykhailo Mudryk – they won 4-2 on penalties and you can catch the highlights from that game below.

It must be noted that this is the Blues’ first away game in this season’s competition, with their four previous fixtures all taking place at Stamford Bridge.

Given we are in the final four of a competition that had all 92 teams from the Premier League down to League Two in at the start, reaching the semi-finals is therefore a huge achievement for a Championship side.

It is testament to the work Michael Carrick is doing at Middlesbrough, with the former Man United midfield general helping his team recover from a slow start to the season after losing in the play-off semi-finals to Coventry City last year.

They sit 12th in the second tier, but Boro are just four points off the play-offs and with three wins from their past five league games, they could pose plenty of dangers to Chelsea this evening.

With various competitions going on at the same time, it is easy to forget what rules apply to what in relation to VAR, away goals and more. So, here we are to clear that all up for you.

There will be NO VAR in either semi-final. The EFL made the call because the technology is not available at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium.

As a means to provide fairness, VAR will not be used in the other semi-final tie between Liverpool and Fulham too.

Away goals also NO longer exist in this competition, meaning if the scores are level on aggregate after 90 minutes of the second leg, we will go to extra-time and then penalties if needed.

Both those bits of news will probably be a relief to supporters far-and-wide.

After the quarter-finals, the yellow cards tally was also wiped clean. This means anyone who has already been booked in the competition this season will not miss the second leg if they are cautioned tonight.

However, should a player be booked once in both legs, they will miss the final should their team make it that far.

After a tournament that began all the way back on August 8, we’re down to the final four.

Tonight, Middlesbrough – who sit 12th in the Championship – take on Chelsea in the first leg of their semi-final.

Tomorrow, Liverpool host Fulham, with the Reds looking to win the EFL Cup for the second time in three years.

The return legs take place on January 23 and January 24 respectively.

And welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg between Middlesbrough and Chelsea.

Stay with us for all the build-up, team news and updates from the clash at the Riverside Stadium.