Swansea vs Chelsea Player Ratings

By FOX SPORTS staff

Swansea held the Blues to a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium in their Capital One Cup semi-final second leg and will now get to play Bradford for the trophy in the final. 

The Swans secured an aggregate victory by properly understanding Chelsea's tactical set-up - by closely tracking each attacker, the defenders prevented any penetrating runs and Demba Ba was starved of any service as he was regularly beaten to aerial and through-balls. 

Chelsea did not make it easy for themselves either as their players put in sub-standard performances and lacked the invention and determination required to reach a final. 

And Eden Hazard was the enfant terrible for the night as he displayed an astonishingly poor piece of conduct when he attempted to bully a ballboy off the ball and rightly earned a red card as a result. 

Swansea

Gerhard Tremmel - 7.5

Michel Vorm would have been thoroughly pleased by the performance of his comrade who has been brilliant throughout the Capital One Cup campaign. Tremmel, Vorm's backup in the league, was a rock in the defence and regularly came forth to pluck the ball out of the air and made several sharp saves within the game. 

Angel Rangel - 7.5

Rangel is well-loved at the Liberty Stadium for not just his generous heart but also his defensive diligence. On Wednesday, it was more of the same and he made it hard for Hazard to chart a path to goal down the left.  

Ashley Williams - 8

The Swansea captain led by example by making several crucial blocks and, although he was a bit clunky with his first touch, he ensured that the ball was calmly redirected away from goal. 

Chico Flores - 8.5

Chico played with his heart on his sleeve and made things really difficult for Juan Mata as he closely tracked the midfielder throughout the game. Chico was also the real leader in defence and regularly barked out instructions to ensure that his team-mates coordinated in order to come to each other's aid. 

Ben Davies - 7.5

The 19-year-old full-back showed no evidence of any youthful nervousness and admirably marshalled the left side of the defence. 

Leon Britton - 7.5

Britton's brilliant decision-making and first-time passes helped ensure that Chelsea were nearly always on the backfoot as they had to deal with quickfire counter-attacks as soon as they lost possession. 

Jonathan de Guzman - 7.5

De Guzman should surely be snapped on a full-time deal after this showing as he worked hard on both the defensive and offensive fronts. 

Ki Sung-Yueng - 7.5

The Korean Gerrard truly played like the Merseysider as he commandingly ran with the ball and distributed the ball to good effect. 

Wayne Routledge (off 65') - 7

Routledge was a key outlet in attack and quickly picked up the ball and ran down the left to apply pressure on the Chelsea defence. Moreover, whenever opportunities seemed to be limited, he also held the ball up effectively in order to ensure that his team-mates could catch up and string together a suitable attacking move. 

Pablo Hernandez - 7

The ex-Valencia winger was industrious but not particularly troublesome for his markers as he did not have good control of the ball. On a number of occasions, he was presented with the ball inside the box but he fumbled over the chance and prevented Swansea from getting a surprise lead. 

Michu - 7.5

The Spaniard was isolated upfront but that rarely bothered him as he made some shrewd runs that allowed him to have a couple of decent chances at goal. Had the Chelsea keeper switched off for even a single second, Michu would have surely been there to punish him with a goal.

The party in Cardiff to celebrate passage to the final should surely carry many a toast to their excellent Spanish midfielder. In a remarkable show of solidarity, he has also enthralled his fans by signing a new deal just hours before Wednesday's crucial game.  

Substitutes 

Nathan Dyer (on 65') - 7

Dyer came onto the pitch and settled in smoothly down the right wing and integrated well within the counter-attacking tactic that the Swans had successfully employed for the game. 

Chelsea

Petr Cech - 7.5

Cech was busy throughout the game and was probably a big reason why Chelsea continued to believe in the prospect of a surprise reversal as late as ten minutes before the end. Hazard's sending-off, however, made the Czech custodian's efforts slip into the backdrop. 

Cesar Azpilicueta - 5

The Spanish full-back was anonymous for much of the game and should have contributed more often in attack. 

Gary Cahill - 6.5

The ex-Bolton player put in a decent shift but was unable to properly mark Michu out of the game. 

Branislav Ivanovic (off 68') - 6.5

It was a much better outing by the Serbian than the one he posted in the first leg as he made no major mistakes. 

Ashley Cole (off 86') - 7.5

It's a pity that Cole has been given just a one-year extension as he's worth a number of years more. On this particular night, he was the best player for the Blues as he tirelessly plowed the left flank and got into the box on a number of occasions although his final delivery was not always up to the mark. 

Ramires - 6

The Brazilian was needlessly aggressive and did not position himself effectively within the middle of the park. He will be unhappy with his performance as he knows he could have asserted his presence by harrying the opposition more often. 

Frank Lampard - 6.5

The seasoned campaigner did his best to get his side back into the tie but could not thread match-winning passes through to his team-mates. 

Eden Hazard (sent off 80') - 2

Scandalous. That's the only word that can describe Hazard's behaviour. 

Juan Mata - 7

The Spaniard supplied Ba time and again and sent in a fair amount of crosses but his team-mates were just not clinical on the night. 

Oscar (off 81') - 6.5

Oscar was the brightest Chelsea player in the opening stages of the game but faded as the match wore on. 

Demba Ba - 5

The former Newcastle striker was given the chance to cement his place in the first team as he was selected ahead of Fernando Torres for the starting eleven. The Senegalese, however, was regularly outmuscled and could not keep his shots on target. 

Substitutes

David Luiz (on 68') - 6

Luiz couldn't really beef up the midfield nor did he provide any astute passes to unlock the Swansea defence. 

Fernando Torres (on 81') - 5

The much-maligned striker was brought on a minute after the ballboy fracas but he did not boost his side's chances as he could not come up with anything special. 

Ryan Bertrand (on 86') - N/A

It was too little, too late for manager Rafa Benitez and Bertrand is surely not the kind of substitute who can add impetus to the Chelsea attack.