Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca hailed his side’s second-half performance as a much-changed Blues edged out a spirited Cardiff City team to progress to the EFL Cup semi-final.
Substitutes Alejandro Garnacho – who bagged a brace – and Pedro Neto scored the goals as Enzo Maresca’s men ran out 3-1 winners in the Welsh capital.
David Turnbull had earlier equalised for the League One leaders after Garnacho’s first before the Argentine doubled his tally after Neto had restored Chelsea’s lead.
Cardiff, who were the only team outside the top-flight left in the competition, made life more than a little difficult for the Premier League outfit, and for long periods in the first-half were much the better side.
Maresca, who opted to rotate his squad for the contest, acknowledged as much after the game but praised the performance of his players in the second half.
“I’m very happy. Especially for the effort of the players. I said yesterday that football is full of these tricky games so we have to pay attention and we did a good game,” the Chelsea boss told Sky Sports.
“I think off the ball we were quite good, on the ball we struggled a bit to create chances. And then second-half we were much better on the ball.
“I think there was a big difference between the first and second half.
“We need to say that Cardiff were very good, organised and they were very intense off the ball. It was difficult but in the end we did enough to win the game.”
Chelsea are on the road again on Saturday when they return to Premier League action with a trip to St James’ Park to face Newcastle knowing a win would keep them hot on the heels of the top three.
