CHELSEA players rushed over to apologise to their seething supporters after a wasteful night at Middlesbrough.
And the stats do not make for pretty reading.
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The Blues had a nightmare in front of goal away at the Riverside as they were made to pay for their poor finishing.
Boro academy graduate Hayden Hackney showed them how to do it, slotting home cooly on 37 minutes to give Michael Carrick’s side a 1-0 lead going into the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final in a fortnight’s time.
However, Chelsea and their fans knew full well they should have won the game.
And the frustrated travelling faithful made their feelings clear after the full-time whistle.
Some boos were picked up by the TV microphone and the cameras then cut to show Thiago Silva in conversation with angry fans, appearing to try and calm things down as tempers boiled over.
Silva – Chelsea’s best player on the night – was then spotted touching hands with one supporter who then gave him a thumbs up.
Levi Colwill, Armando Broja and Alfie Gilchrist also walked over to show their appreciation for the fans who made the 510-mile round trip on a freezing Tuesday night.
However, it is understood some of the Chelsea players did not go and acknowledge them.
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And Sky Sports presenter Mark Chapman added: “Some fans are more angry than others.”
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino claims he did not see the incident and said: “I can’t say anything about [the boos] but of course we can understand why our fans will feel disappointed but there’s still 90 minutes to play.”
Poch also did not see his side find the back of the net – that is despite his side taking 18 shots in the game with five on target.
Four of those chances fell to Cole Palmer who started as the false No9 in the north-east – and he should have scored at least two.
The first effort – a gift from a loose Boro pass – saw him drag wide from the edge of the area before he spooned a simple rebound over the bar.
Palmer then forced a smart low top from Tom Glover just before half-time and had to be picked up off the deck as team-mates consoled him.
The ex-Manchester City star looked gutted at the end of the game and went straight down the tunnel as Chelsea suffered defeat in the League Cup against a side from a lower division for the first time since losing to Huddersfield in October 1999.
Asked about his misfiring star, Poch said: “We had good chances to score, but it can happen – we were not clinical enough.
“This first half of the season we have created some chances, but we have not won because we were not clinical enough – we must keep pushing.”
But despite all their chances and dominating the ball – with 72 per cent possession and 743 passes – the result at the halfway point in the tie could have been worse.
That is because Axel Disasi got away with a late sliding tackle on Emmanuel Latte Lath inside the very first minute of the match in the area.
He appeared to catch the Boro striker’s ankle and none of the ball but escaped with no VAR in use.
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