'A night you never forget': when Barnsley stunned Chelsea in FA Cup

11-Feb-2021 08:00:06 | The Guardian

Thomas Tuchel’s side visit Oakwell on Thursday hoping for a better result than Avram Grant managed in a 2008 quarter-final

Chelsea all but owned the FA Cup between April 2006, when Liverpool beat them in the semi-finals, and February 2011, when Everton knocked them out on penalties in round four. In four seasons they played 20 ties and won 19, raising the trophy on three occasions, and then they did it again in 2012 for good measure. Through all this they faltered once, not so much a stumble as a full-blown pratfall, and on Thursday they return to the scene of that debacle desperate not to experience a repeat.

In 2008, even more than now, Barnsley were unlikely giantkillers. Chelsea travelled to Oakwell having won 14 and lost one – the League Cup final, to Tottenham after extra time – of their previous 19 matches. Since producing the shock of the previous round by beating Liverpool at Anfield Barnsley had scored once in four games, not winning any of them.