Middlesbrough face Chelsea in the League Cup semi-finals, but people may not realise the extent of the rivalry between the two clubs. Michael Carrick’s side host Chelsea in the opening leg at The Riverside, before the second-leg at Stamford Bridge in a fortnight.
There might be a division between these two sides, but that divide has not stopped a shock before. The play-offs when they were first introduced in English football, were actually very different. Back then in 1987 the fourth bottom team from the top-flight joined the teams finishing third to fifth.
League Cup Outright odds with kwiff
– Liverpool 1.83
– Chelsea 2.55
– Fulham 8.25
– Boro 23.20
The first year Charlton Athletic avoided relegation by beating Leeds but the following year we saw the first ever team promoted via the play-offs but also the first team relegated. The only time this ever happened as they were changed the following year that would no longer see a top-flight side take part.
Wembley Woes
A year later it was Middlesbrough who relegated Chelsea in May 1988, and the ‘Boys of the Bridge’ have long memories. Since then the rivalry between these two has never gone away. Both sides enjoyed several high profile cup meetings following those famous play-off games indeed just two years later Middlesbrough made it to Wembley for the first-time in their history in the Zenith Data Systems final. Who lay in wait at Wembley? Chelsea of course! The West London giants got their own back on their North-East rivals with a Tony Dorigo free-kick claiming ‘revenge’ for the Blues in a 1-0 win.
However, this was not the last final between the two, indeed there was further Chelsea glory at Wembley as they put Boro to the sword in the FA Cup final in 1997 and then less than a year later once again in the League Cup final.
Middlesbrough v Chelsea Match Odds
– Boro 4.50
– Draw 3.75
– Chelsea 1.50
Chelsea have never forgiven, or forgotten, Boro relegating them that day, and it was aprepot that the Blues were the side to open the Riverside Stadium with the Teessiders claiming a famed Premier League win on the opening of their new home in 1995.
Chelsea have since dominated recent proceedings against Boro, having won their last nine games and nothing will give more joy than to once again put one over on their old rivals. The Blues have to be opposed at their odds of 1.50 with kwiff, and I like the 2.20 about Boro in the ‘Double Chance’ market, with Michael Carrick’s men heading to West London with a fighting chance in the second leg at the Bridge.
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By Graeme Bailey
