Chelsea crashed out of the FA Cup last night in underwhelming circumstances as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Brighton.
The Blues took the lead early in comical fashion, however created very little and couldn’t find an answer for Brighton’s comeback.
Despite Enzo Maresca’s best efforts to find positives out of the result, Blues fans are disappointed to see the wait for a domestic trophy go on under the new ownership.
Chelsea are still firm favourites to win the Conference League this season, although the FA Cup presented a great chance to have a decent run at finally breaking their long-running Wembley curse.
Chelsea’s embarrasing FA Cup defeat to Bradford left Jose Mourinho ’embarrassed’
While Chelsea will be disappointed at the manner of their defeat last night, it is fair to say the club have been involved in far more damaging defeats at this stage of the competition.
Ten years ago the Blues hosted League One Bradford City at Stamford Bridge in what looked as if it would be a routine victory and passage into the fifth round.
This looked even more secure when Gary Cahill and Ramires put them 2-0 up, however a manic final 15 minutes saw them eventually lose 4-2, exiting the cup in nightmare circumstances.
The manager at the time, Jose Mourinho, didn’t try to hide how frustrated he was, describing their defeat as ‘a disgrace’.
He said to BBC Sport: “I repeat a word I used before this match – It’s a disgrace for a big team to lose to a small team from a lower team. Frustration is not the right word, embarrassed would be more appropriate.”
It was a brilliant story for the neutral though, with Robbie Fowler stating that it was the biggest upset he had ever seen in the competition.
He said to Match of the Day: “Chelsea are by far the best team in England at the minute. They are 2-0 up at home against little Bradford,” said the 39-year-old, who won the Cup with Liverpool in 2001. “For me, this is the biggest shock.”
Who played for Chelsea in 4-2 defeat to Bradford?
Mourinho rotated his stars for the FA Cup game ten years ago, however still had a team more than good enough to beat their lower-league opposition.
Club legend Petr Cech started between the sticks for the Blues and took to Twitter the night of the defeat to acknowledge how special the moment must have been for their opponents.
In Eden Hazard’s place was Mohamed Salah, a player who has obviously gone on to become one of the best in the world for Liverpool.
It never worked out for him at Stamford Bridge, and it was not long before the Egyptian departed the club.
Chelsea XI vs Bradford: Cech; Christensen, Zouma, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Mikel (Fabregas 70’), Ramires; Remy (Hazard 76’), Oscar, Salah (Willian 70’); Drogba
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