Bradford, from League 2, showed Aston Villa (and the football world really) that there is as much magic in the League Cup as the FA Cup - they managed to beat them over 2 legs in the semi-final to reach the promised land: a final at Wembley.
For the Bradford fans it is a fantastic day out, and for the players it is a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience to savour and enjoy in what has been a fantastic acheivement for the club.
For Villa fans though, it raises serious question marks over either the efforts of their squad, or the ideas of Paul Lambert.. They are struggling in the league, and this was a really good chance for Lambert to show Villa that they are going places, but they scuffed it.
I watched the match and in the first half, Villa were cruising as expected (I think the possession was something silly like 72-28), but they weren't clinical enough, and that gave Bradford confidence that they could actually go through, which is exactly what they did.
People are saying that Villa need to buy some more experienced players to support the youngsters Lambert fields, but if you look at their squad, players like Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland, Ron Vlaar, Richard Dunne, Gabby Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph, they have played at a high level for a long while. Goodness knows what is going on with Darren Bent..
Bradford's opponents in the final, Swansea, also came through a 'shock' elimination as they beat Chelsea 2-0 on aggregate, having actually scored both goals in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. It was a game that Swansea were happy to sit back and defend in, but it was effective as it kept Chelsea at bay and they failed to get a goal.
The 'drama' of the game came in the 77th minute when Eden Hazard appeared to 'kick' one of the ball boys in an attempt to get the ball back and speed the game up with Chelsea chasing an equaliser.. At first I, like many, was convinced he'd actually kicked him in the ribs for no reason, but then I saw how the ball boy wouldn't give the ball back, and fell on top of it, so if anything credit to Hazard for not kicking him harder, in the face, or doing worse.
The saga got better as people sought out this 'poor boy's' Twitter account, only to find out a) he planned to cheat and time waste, and publicly announced it on the social media site, and b) he's an underage drinker at 17: hardly a boy. But if you do read this Charlie Morgan, Tom Daly would give you 10/10 for diving, and Hollywood 10/10 for acting..
Nonetheless, all credit to Swansea for progressing to the final, comiserations to Chelsea.. Some are surprised Rafa is still in a job!
I know these events are quite late this week, I do concede I've been too busy in my own fairytale on FIFA, with Accrington Stanley defeating Preston, West Brom, Southampton, Arsenal then Newcastle in the final of the League Cup, so Bradford: it is possible!
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