Jose Mourinho claimed the 21st trophy of his career as Chelsea beat Tottenham 2-0 to win the Capital One Cup final at Wembley on this day in 2015.
John Terry’s deflected close-range effort beat Hugo Lloris to put Chelsea ahead at the end of the first half and Kyle Walker turned Diego Costa’s low drive into his own net after the break to give Mourinho’s men victory in the pouring rain.
Both goals were slightly fortuitous – but few would argue the Chelsea boss was lucky to win the trophy.
Tottenham made the short journey to Wembley full of hope after their recent rejuvenation under Mauricio Pochettino.
The men in white played some fantastic football – and Christian Eriksen went close to giving them the lead when he struck the bar in the first half – but ultimately the Spurs boss was outwitted by his opposite number.
Shorn of the giant protective presence of Nemanja Matic, the theory was that Chelsea’s defence would be vulnerable to the threat caused by boy wonder Harry Kane and the tricky Eriksen.
But Kurt Zouma, operating as a defensive midfielder, kept Eriksen quiet all afternoon. It was a masterstroke from Mourinho.
It says much about the Portuguese that his two-and-a-half year wait for a trophy was described as a “drought” in the build-up to the game.
Yet even his most damning critic could not argue he did not deliver on the biggest stage. This was his ninth win in 12 major finals and his 21st trophy arrived in just his 15th year in management.
Chelsea also went on to be crowned Premier League champions, but Mourinho left the club by “mutual consent” in December after a run of nine defeats in 16 matches at the start of the 2015-16 season.
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