Chelsea striker Timo Werner did not take a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur because he was suffering from cramp.
The Blues were dumped out of the competition 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time and Mason Mount missed the deciding spot kick.
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Many wondered why Werner, who scored his first Chelsea goal in the first half, chose not to step up to the mark.
"We spoke to the players," manager Frank Lampard revealed after the game per TeamTalk. "You work on penalties and try and have a plan but it's very difficult to know.
"Timo had some cramp at the end and Timo would have probably taken one so we had to adjust around that."
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Werner opened the scoring inside the first twenty minutes with a low drive that caught Hugo Lloris out.
Despite having a number of chances, Chelsea failed to increase their lead against a weakened Spurs.
New signing Sergio Reguilon made a mistake in the lead up to the first goal but made up for it with seven minutes to go.
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The Spaniard sent a teasing ball into the box for Erik Lamela to slot home at the back stick and take the game to penalties.
Spurs successfully dispatched all of their penalties while Mount saw his clip the post and go wide to send Jose Mourinho's side through.
Mourinho made nine changes from Sunday's 1-1 draw against Newcastle United due to a congested fixture list.
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They welcome Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League on Thursday before traveling to Old Trafford on Sunday to take on Manchester United.
"I told you before the game we would be ready to fight and we were ready to fight," the Portuguese coach told Sky Sports.
"I told the players before the penalties that I don't care about the penalties, I care about what we did before.
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"We were the best team, we were magnificent. In the second half a super team like Chelsea looked very ordinary, and they are not. We played so, so well.
"I told the players they should only think about this game, but I have to think about three games at the same time. They only thought about this game and they were phenomenal, so all credit to the boys.
"I have an incredibly negative record on penalty shootouts, but today I had a feeling that everything was going well. We were by far the best team and the boys deserved to win the match."
Topics: Frank Lampard, Mason Mount, Football News, Carabao Cup, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Timo Werner