Ten years at the Liberty: Wembley here we come

To celebrate Swansea City's tenth season at the Liberty Stadium, we are looking back on the stand-out moments over the last decade.
Here, we go back to the day the Swans booked their place in the Capital One Cup final.



Swansea City 0 Chelsea 0
Capital One Cup semi-final second leg
January 23, 2012

In one hundred years of professional football, the Swans had never reached a major cup final. But after an incredible 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge 14 days earlier, the club stood on the brink of making history.
Despite their enviable lead over the reigning Champions of Europe, Chelsea were not to be written off. With a squad full of multi-million pound players, the Blues were more than capable of overturning the deficit.
Inevitably, with the prospect of a final within touching distance, tension gripped the Liberty Stadium ahead of kick-off.
But although the Swans had a two-goal advantage, there appeared to be no thoughts of sitting back in an attempt to protect their lead. After Chelsea's opening advances had been dealt with - with commendable composure - the home side created the game's first real chance when Wayne Routledge's shot on goal was defended well by Cesar Azpilicueta, before an out-stretched Petr Cech then denied Michu.



The visitors stepped up the tempo as the leg approached it's midway point, but there was little conviction to Rafa Benitez's side's play. Chelsea attempted to test Swans goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel from long range but to no avail.
The effort shown by all in white was exemplified by Leon Britton, who dictated play from the middle of the park. After suffering a heavy challenge from Blues midfielder Ramires, the diminutive midfielder marched back onto the pitch bruised and with a bandage wrapped round his head, which still didn't stop him from putting his body on the line in aid of Swansea's cause.
Chelsea's lack of ideas and frustration was evident, but it exploded in exceptional circumstances in a bizarre incident involving Eden Hazard and a ballboy. In his desire to retrieve the ball after it had gone out for a corner, Hazard got into an altercation with a ballboy. In an attempt to retrieve the ball, Hazard wrestled with the ballboy, who was lying on top of the ball, before making the mistake of kicking out in an attempt to release it from beneath the teenager.



Referee Chris Foy took his time to deliberate over his decision, but he really had no option other than to show Hazard a red card, leaving the visitors a man down with only ten minutes of the game to play.
With time running out for Chelsea, Benitez finally sent on £50 million striker Fernando Torres in the hope of finding a goal.
But there was to be no fairytale ending for the Spanish superstar, who charged around the Liberty pitch without threatening the Swansea goal. It was an entirely different scenario for the Swans, however, who soaked up the adulation of the home crowd following the full-time whistle having reached their first-ever major cup final.




Player profile
Jonathan de Guzman (2012-14)
Jonathan de Guzman was born and brought up in Ontario, Canada, in September 1987. His love of sport - and football in particular - began at a very young age before he started playing youth football for North Scarborough Soccer Club.
But his desire to play in a top European League was such that, at the age of just 12, he left Canada to join the youth academy at Feyenoord in Holland.
Three days after his 18th birthday, de Guzman realised his dream when he was included as part of Feyenoord's first-team squad for the very first time and quickly became a regular in the starting line-up of the Rotterdam-based side.
The talented playmaker was granted Dutch citizenship in February 2008 and had the option to play international football for either Canada or Holland. In March 2008, he made his Under-21 debut for Holland against Estonia before making his senior debut five years later, in 2013, when he came off the bench against Italy.
In 2010, de Guzman departed Feyenoord to sign for Michael Laudrup's Mallorca on a free transfer. He enjoyed two positive seasons with Mallorca before moving again to fellow La Liga outfit Villarreal.
But despite moving to the club for approximately £6million, de Guzman began to struggle for game time upon the arrival of new manager Jose Molina.
In July 2012, the Dutch international was reunited with Michael Laudrup at the Liberty Stadium on a season-long loan deal. His time at Swansea proved a huge success for both club and player, as he capped off his first season in South Wales with two goals in the Capital One Cup final win over Bradford City in February 2013.
The Feyenoord youth product agreed to a second season on loan at Swansea, whom he helped reach the last 32 of the Europa League in 2013-14, in which he scored a sublime free-kick in the 3-0 victory over Valencia, amongst contributing to further memorable nights during the club's run to the knockout stages.
In August 2014, however, de Guzman signed for Serie A side Napoli on a four-year deal. He made his debut against Genoa, coming on as a substitute to score the only goal of the game.
He then joined fellow Italian side Carpi on loan until June 2016.