Chelsea 2-0 Boro player ratings: Ziyech books ticket to Wembley

Hakim Ziyech (Right winger): 8.5/10

It’s easy to say now, but Chelsea almost certainly doesn’t lose the Carabao Cup final had the Moroccan played. Not with the space Liverpool left with its high line, begging the Blues to exploit this space behind its defense with one or two well-cooked through balls. Ziyech put in a mature performance against the Boro. One of a player who knows just how good he is and what his role in the squad is right now. The number of times Ziyech effortlessly played in a player that was running down the right flank showed a player that knows what the game needs at every point in time. He’s that good. Ziyech made three key passes, with no one else on the pitch making more. Oh, and did I mention his absolute worldie of a goal?

Romelu Lukaku (Striker): 8.5/10

Lukaku was brilliant against Middlesbrough. He did everything he was doing at Inter Milan, but this time, his teammates did not ignore him and actually played with him the way a functioning team should play with its superstar center forward. Chelsea was the definition of fluid overall.

The Belgian was laying the ball off beautifully to his fellow forwards and his hold-up play was fantastic. This shows that his playing as a target man is not the reason he isn’t scoring as much as he was at Inter. He was a target man there too. All center forwards have target man duties, the idea is that when they lay the ball off, they make runs expecting that the ball comes back to them at some point. Lukaku got two big chances on Saturday, he converted one and missed the other one due to a stunning goal-line clearance. He is now the Blues’ top scorer in the FA Cup, as well as in all competitions.

Christian Pulisic (Left winger): 6/10

Christian Pulisic was quiet on the night. He got into very good positions and missed a very good chance. However, his ball retention was not good. The American tried to dribble a couple of times, no one of which came off.