The 2023 24 season is in full swing in Europe's top five leagues, and the English League Cup has reached the semi-finals, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham and Championship side Middlesbrough battling it out in the semi-finals. The first leg of Chelsea's tie with Middlesbrough kicked off in the early hours of yesterday morning, with a two-legged home and away tie.
Meanwhile, Bundesliga powerhouse Borussia Dortmund had a warm-up match during the winter break against Standard Liege, with mixed events and mixed circumstances. Chelsea narrowly beat Middlesbrough 1-0 away to secure the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. Middlesbrough are mid-table in the Championship this season, just four points away from promotion play-off qualification, but have recently suffered two consecutive defeats and missed out on progression to the next round of the FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa.
However, in the Carabao Cup, Middlesbrough managed to reach the last four with a winning record. Middlesbrough's manager is former Manchester United defender Michael Carrick. Chelsea, meanwhile, are back in form and are on a three-game winning streak to move 10th in the Premier League table, 12 points clear of the Champions League places, so the Carabao Cup is Pochettino's most likely trophy contention.
Chelsea managed to progress to the round of 32 in their last FA Cup fixture but will face formidable opponents Aston Villa in their next fixture, so Chelsea's main target this season will be the Carabao Cup. Chelsea's squad has been restructured by the Boehly consortium and has been completely detached from the influence of the Roman Abramovich era, and Chelsea are now a new American-owned team. With Chelsea's players only being brought in in in the last two or three transfer windows, Pochettino's challenge is to make his squad more harmonious.
The players are still actively trying to make mistakes and run in, whether it is offensive or defensive, there is a certain gap between the other five big6 giants. In the game, Palmer missed a number of chances in the first half, with the Blues conceding the first goal and a goalless result for either side in the second half. Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at Myburgh brought the Blues' run of three wins in all competitions to an abrupt end, with the two sides moving to Stamford Bridge for the second leg on 24 January.
As for Dortmund's match against Standard Liege, it ended in a tight score of 3-3. Borussia Dortmund missed out on a great chance to win the title last season, which is not common in their history. After selling Bellingham this season, Dortmund's form began to decline. Despite their success in breaking through the Champions League 'Group of Death' and topping the group, Borussia Dortmund have dropped to fifth in the Bundesliga, 15 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the table and six points clear of the Champions League qualification zone.
Borussia Dortmund desperately need to shake off their current slump. Luckily, the Bundesliga has entered a winter break, which has given Dortmund plenty of time to adjust and the players to rest. The Bundesliga will resume this weekend, marking the start of the second half of the season. Borussia Dortmund will have to scramble on their skills and tactics as they have failed to win seven games in a row.
In recent fixtures, Mullen assisted Meunier to break the deadlock in the first half and Kanga equalised to draw 1-1 at the end of the first half. In the second half, Djenepo set up another goal for Kanga to put Standard Liege in the lead, Papadopoulos then equalised again, Pelliza's goal was again ahead, and Bamba equalised the scores with a goal just before half-time.
In the end, Borussia Dortmund drew 3-3 with Standard Liege, which means they have gone two games without a win in a row in the winter break warm-up games, and have been in a slump in form with eight consecutive games without a win in all competitions.