The Football League Cup ran 53 years without a Welsh club laying claim to the trophy. Swansea City had watched their bitter rivals, Cardiff City, come close to achieving such bragging rights after the Bluebirds reached the previous year's final. Perhaps this stoked the flames to begin their conquest, making Sunday 24 February 2013 a historic day in their 101-year history.
The Swans, who nearly exited the football league 10 years prior, voyaged through a sea of tough opponents to reach their first-ever major English Cup final. Victory would see silverware taken back across the border, a feat which had not been achieved since the FA Cup made the same journey in 1927, when, you guessed it, Cardiff were the victors. Swansea had to best EFL League Two outfit Bradford City at the final hurdle. The Bantams themselves hadn’t appeared in any occasion of the like since winning the 1911 FA Cup and were the first fourth-tier side to reach the League Cup final since Rochdale in 1962.
Entering the second-round stage of the competition, the South Wales side began their run in a straightforward home tie to Championship side Barnsley. Danny Graham scored the opener, accompanied by two second-half finishes from Luke Moore to win 3-1 to put Michael Laudrup’s men safely through to the next stage. An away trip to Crawley Town proved a tricky contest, in a game which saw talisman Michu put Swansea ahead before the Red Devils turned the tie around just after the hour mark. Graham brought the Swans level into the final quarter and captain Garry Monk headed home an injury-time winner.
Holders Liverpool welcomed the team in white for a daunting fourth-round tie at Anfield. However, the noise from the Kop failed to deter the away team’s spirit as a treble of goals from Chico Flores, Nathan Dyer and Jonathan de Guzmán eclipsed Luis Suarez’ only finish for the Reds. The Liberty Stadium hosted a closely contested quarter-final tussle with Middlesbrough, the only goal of the match headed into the visitor's own net by Seb Hines to set up a two-legged semi-final against Chelsea. Michu and Graham took advantage of separate defensive errors by Branislav Ivanović, to leave Stamford Bridge with a two-goal lead in the affair. An altercation between Eden Hazard and a Swansea ball boy over-shadowed the goalless return fixture, an incident which prompted referee Chris Foy to dismiss the Belgium star for violent conduct. This was not of issue to the team from Wales, though, who kept a consecutive clean sheet to book their place under the arch.
Despite residing in a different country, Swansea’s commute to the game had been shorter than Bradford’s, by 10 miles. The odd snowflake flurry floated down from the clouds above the Capital and by full-time a new name would be carved on the trophy in front of the 82,597 attendees. The West Yorkshire side themselves endured a journey littered with extra-time winners and penalty shootout triumphs, navigating past Premier League opposition Wigan Athletic, Arsenal and Aston Villa to reach the ultimate stage. They were behind after only a quarter played, however, Michu’s hit from range was enough to force goalkeeper Matt Duke into parrying the ball for Dyer to slot home. Swansea were at the double before halftime, courtesy of Michu who fired one from the same position that resulted in the first goal, this time beating the goalkeeper to tally his 19th goal of the season.
The Welsh onslaught continued following the break. Dyer played a neat one-two with Wayne Routledge in a phase which saw Michu twice dummy the ball before the English winger cut inside to curl a left-footer around Duke, bagging himself his second and all but sealing the tie. Laudrup turned to high-five his technical team with visible glee, the Swans now three-up and sailing towards victory. Things quickly went from bad to worse for the Bantams after Duke tripped de Guzman in his six-yard box, and not only conceded a penalty but also received a red card from referee Kevin Friend. Much drama was made over who would take the spot kick, Dyer desperately pleading with the man who won the penalty for the chance to complete his hat-trick, but his argument was disregarded, and the Dutchman produced the goods to make it 4-0. Angel Rangel’s injury-time cross found de Guzman free in the Bradford box to tap in his second, which capped off a famous 5-0 Swansea victory, the biggest score line in League Cup Final history.
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