Tottenham are one game from ending a 13-year trophy drought as they booked their place in the Carabao Cup final with a 2-0 win over Brentford.
Jose Mourinho’s exceptional record in the League Cup continues as he has reached his fifth final and, promisingly for Tottenham, he has won his previous four.
Goals from Moussa Sissoko and Heung-Min Son either side of the break helped to end their run of three successive domestic semi-final defeats.
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Mourinho was brought into the club to deliver silverware and he will now eagerly wait to see the outcome of Wednesday’s second semi-final between Man City and Man Utd – both teams who Spurs have beaten this season.
Brentford had beaten four Premier League teams to reach their first major semi-final and things might have been different had Ivan Toney’s equaliser not been ruled out for a marginal offside. They ended the night with ten men following Josh Da Silva’s red card.
But this was all about Tottenham and their quest to finally win some silverware.
Mourinho does not lose semi-finals in this competition and his team selection against the Championship side showed that he was not prepared to risk it here. A strong spine of a team was spearheaded by Harry Kane and Son in attack.
That team selection was rewarded as Tottenham took a 12th-minute lead, from an albeit unlikely source.
They worked the ball out to the left and Sergio Reguilon, back in the side after his coronavirus rule-breaking indiscretion, delivered an inviting ball into Sissoko. He then planted a header into the top corner.
It was the Frenchman’s first goal since December 2019 and came via his first on-target effort of the season.
Spurs were happy to concede possession to Thomas Frank’s side but they were the ones who looked like adding to their lead.
Son brought a flying save out of David Raya with a curling shot from the edge of the area. The Brentford goalkeeper then clawed away Lucas Moura’s deflected header from Son’s corner.
Although they dominated possession in the first half, Brentford rarely looked like scoring, but they got their first opening shortly after the restart.
Bryan Mbeumo got in behind Davinson Sanchez, wriggled free in the penalty area where he might have gone down, before teeing up Ivan Toney. The in-form striker was denied by an heroic block from Serge Aurier.
It was an eventful couple of minutes for the right-back. Moments later he found himself bursting into Brentford’s area and the ball fell to him in a great position, but he lost his composure and fired over.
Those missed chances looked to have cost Spurs as Brentford thought they had drawn level just after the hour.
The hosts failed to clear a corner and Toney headed home from close range, only for VAR to rule him marginally offside.
Tottenham made the most of their reprieve as they finally doubled their lead seven minutes later.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg won the ball back, Kane fed Tanguy Ndombele who played in Son and the South Korean made no mistake with an emphatic finish.
It was his 16th goal of the season and put one foot back on Wembley Way for Spurs.
They went for the kill as Kane was denied by a fine save from Raya. Ndombele then hit the post from an acute angle.
Brentford’s night ended on a sour note as they were reduced to ten men in the final ten minutes. Dasilva walked for a bad challenge on Hojbjerg, who left the pitch with a nasty gash on his shin.