Capital One Cup Final, Wembley, 24 February, 2013 : Swansea City 5 Bradford City 0
Swansea City’s thumping 5-0 win in the Capital One brought the Welsh club their first major trophy in a Century of existence. But more importantly it marks a milestone in a sensational new journey the club has been on for the past few seasons, guided earlier by current Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and now by Michael Laudrup, who naturally was overjoyed by the achievement.
Laudrup said, “To lift the trophy is great, but I think the way we did it, 5-0…I don’t have the numbers in possession, but I think they had the first shot on target after 85 minutes – I think that says a lot about our performance because we all know what Bradford has done this season, against Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa.”
It was only barely a decade ago that The Swans almost dropped out of The Football League altogether only to survive on the final day of the season. Their last three years have been phenomenal where they have secured multiple promotions to reach the Premier League and have played some eye catching football to boot.
They have been the embodiment of the little team who could, without having the money to spend or star power to flex.
As Laudrup, himslef no stranger to trophies in the cabinet rightly put it, “I don’t think I can compare this title, what we have achieved this season in this competition, with something I have done before for the simple reason that it’s one thing to win a cup with Barcelona, Madrid or Juventus but to win it with a smaller team, like Swansea, is absolutely fantastic. It’s the first major trophy ever and it’s up there with the best things because it’s completely different.”
