
Can Boro end hoodoo?published at 14:54 BST
Hull City v Middlesbrough (15:30 BST)
Middlesbrough
Image source, Getty ImagesWhile Hull have fond memories playing under the arch, Middlesbrough have yet to win at Wembley, old or new, but the good news is they are at least not playing Chelsea this afternoon.
They lost the Zenith Data Systems Cup final 1-0 to the Blues at Wembley in 1990
and drew the 1997 League Cup final against Leicester 1-1 – Fabrizio Ravanelli scoring the club’s only Wembley goal – going on to lose the replay at
Hillsborough before another defeat to Chelsea in the FA Cup final the following
month.
Chelsea beat Boro by the same 2-0 scoreline in the 1998
League Cup final – so no third time lucky – and the Teesiders were also on the end of a 2-0 defeat by Norwich in
the 2015 Championship play-off final.
Their overall play-off record is not much better: Boro went out to Coventry in the semi-finals under Michael
Carrick in 2023, drawing 0-0 at the CBS Arena before Gus Hamer settled the
second leg at the Riverside.
In 2018 Boro went out against Aston Villa, losing 1-0 at home
under Tony Pulis before a stalemate at Villa Park in the second leg, with
Middlesbrough failing to register a shot on target in either game.
Boro had made the 2015 final under Aitor Karanka with a thumping 5-1 semi-final
win over Brentford but came unstuck in the final against the Canaries, going down
2-0 to two early goals against a side they had beaten by a combined score of
5-0 across their two regular-season meetings.
Boro’s only play-off success came in 1988 when they saw-off
Chelsea – who had finished fourth-bottom of the top flight – 2-1 over two legs
having beaten Bradford City 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final.







