Stoke City 1 Chelsea 1 (After extra time)
Stoke won 5-4 on penalties
Chelsea’s miserable run continued as the holders were knocked out of the Capital One Cup on penalties.
All of the previous nine spot-kicks in the shoot-out were scored before Jack Butland’s save from Eden Hazard sent Stoke through to the quarter-finals.
Trailing to Jonathan Walters’ fantastic goal, and with Diego Costa having hobbled off in the first half, Chelsea were heading out before there was a dramatic twist in the final minute of normal time.
Loic Remy equalised and Stoke were reduced to 10 men a minute later when Phil Bardsley was sent off for a second bookable offence.
But Jose Mourinho’s side, who have now won only one of their last seven matches, were unable to capitalise in extra time.
They had started the game well enough, with Costa at the centre of things in a tough physical battle with the home defence before being replaced by Remy shortly after the half-hour mark.
They then thought they had taken the lead when John Terry cleverly back-heeled Willian’s right-wing cross into the net but was denied a goal by an offside flag.
At the other end, keeper Asmir Begovic, playing against his ex-club, was called into action just before half-time, when he saved from Walters after the forward had been found by Mame Diouf.
But Walters gave his former team-mate no chance six minutes into the second half, collecting Glenn Whelan’s pass and then smashing an unstoppable drive in off the underside of the crossbar.
Chelsea almost equalised when Kurt Zouma hit the post following a quickly-taken free-kick.
They eventually levelled when Remy fired into the roof of the net after Zouma had headed on Willian’s corner.
That forced extra time, which Stoke had to play a man short after Bardsley’s foul on Chelsea substitute Kenedy earned him a second booking.
Mark Hughes’ men held on, riding their luck when Willian’s shot shaved the post before Butland produced a fine save after Kenedy’s shot had deflected off Xherdan Shaqiri.
And in the shoot-out, Charlie Adam, Peter Odemwingie, Marc Wilson, Shaqiri and Marko Arnautović all scored for the Potters.
Willian, Oscar, Remy and Zouma also netted, but Hazard was unable to beat Butland.
This post was last modified on 27/10/2015