Inside Raheem Sterling’s semi-final hoodoo as Chelsea face desperate fight to overhaul Middlesbrough in Carabao Cup
CHELSEA supporters are praying Raheem Sterling can fire them to Wembley – but they must be semi worried by his past.
The Blues renew their little-known but long-running rivalry with Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge tonight.
Michael Carrick’s Championship side lead 1-0 against Chelsea as they go in to the crunch Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg.
Mauricio Pochettino is desperate to bounceback and knows his side need to score at least twice to seal a spot at Wembley.
And a lot of the hopes of reaching their first final under him will rest with their vastly-experienced forward Sterling.
The 29-year-old burst through the ranks at Liverpool and then went on to win a host of honours at Manchester City.
He lifted the Premier League title four times, the FA Cup and also the League Cup on FIVE occasions.
However, while he has enjoyed plenty of success in finals, his record from playing in semi-finals makes for much grimmer reading.
Sterling got off to a flyer in his first-ever semi-final appearance for Liverpool against Chelsea back in January 2015.
The England international scored in a 1-1 first-leg draw but then he and his Anfield team-mates suffered a 1-0 defeat in the second-leg.
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And, amazingly, in 20 semi appearances since then for both club and country, Sterling has not found the target again since.
He lost an FA Cup semi with Liverpool against Aston Villa prior to his switch to City.
And he played in a whopping 15 semi-finals during his time at the Etihad – but drew a blank in all of them.
Sterling could not find a way past Boro’s defence at the Riverside a fortnight ago either, but his struggles have not only come domestically.
He has also featured in three semis for England, not scoring in any of them.
The first was the World Cup defeat to Croatia in 2018, which was followed by another setback against Holland in the Nations League last four the following year.
Sterling did help England to overcome Denmark in the European Championship semi in 2021, but again he failed to find the net.
Astonishingly, it has been 21 straight semi outings now that he has been waiting for a goal, and he will be going all out to end that duck tonight against Boro.
But even though he has a trophy cabinet full of honours, his overall semi record will be slightly concerning to superstitious Blues supporters.
He has played in 22 so far, winning just eight of them and losing a worrying 12 times.
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