Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough is remaining 'realistic' about his sides chances of reaching the League Cup final, after they pulled off a shock quarter-final win over Championship team Middlesbrough.
On Tuesday evening, Clough guided League One side Burton to the semi-finals of this year's Carabao Cup, after his side overcame Middlesbrough away from home to reach the last four.
However in spite of this great achievement, the manager is keen to iterate that he is remaining 'realistic' about his side's chances of a trip to Wembley, as the other three candidates in the final four will be Premier League clubs. While the Burton boss was keen to praise his players for overcoming superior opposition against all odds, Clough knows that playing a Premier League side over two legs will be a whole different task.
When asked if his side could make the final of the competition in the new year, he told 'Sky Sports': "Highly unlikely, when you look at the teams that are left in. That’s just being realistic. It’s highly, highly unlikely, to be in with the teams that are left in." He continued: "We are going to enjoy this one tonight for a couple of days before we go to Luton on Saturday for as hard a game as there will be this season, and then we are going to park it and look forward to it in the New Year whenever it is, the two-legger. We didn’t even bother looking. We are going to enjoy this one, certainly.”
Nevertheless, Clough admitted that he was proud to have advanced in the competition, that his famous father won on four occasions during his career. He added: "My mum and my dad, both of them – they met here, married here, so it’s always special to come to the north east. Ninety-two clubs come into the competition and Burton Albion in the last four, it’s absolutely remarkable, remarkable. We’ve beaten Villa, Forest, Burnley and now Middlesbrough to get to this stage. You always need a little bit of luck in any cup competition and we got a bit tonight with a couple of chances that were missed."