MICHAEL CARRICK has told Middlesbrough fans to “dare to dream” ahead of this evening’s Carabao Cup semi-final decider at Chelsea.

Boro head to Stamford Bridge tonight defending a 1-0 first-leg advantage and hoping to make their first League Cup final in two decades.

Carrick’s side will be roared on by a sold-out contingent of almost 4,500 travelling fans, and while Premier League Chelsea will be favourites despite Hayden Hackney’s first-leg winner meaning they have to win to have any chance of making it to the final, Boro’s players will be full of confidence given their success a fortnight ago.

Despite the enormity of the occasion, Carrick’s pre-match message to his squad is that it is ‘business as usual’. When it comes to the club’s supporters, though, the head coach is happy to see excitement running wild.

“Part of football is creating hopes and dreams, and the passion and excitement, the dream, the fairytale,” said Carrick, who is hoping to have both Jonny Howson and Isaiah Jones available this evening. “I was exactly the same when I was purely a supporter.

“That is what it should be, but it is very different when you are in it. You have to be concentrated and a bit more business-like.

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“That doesn’t take away the buzz and excitement and the passion to do well - it is just slightly different. But, certainly, the supporters should be dreaming and making the most of it and hoping for the very best because that is the beauty of football.”

Avoid defeat tonight, and Boro are guaranteed to be in the Wembley final on February 25, a prospect Carrick would relish, even if he is desperate to avoid looking too far ahead prior to kick-off.

“It would mean an awful lot, but I’m not getting carried away,” he said. “We have a lot to do. Depending on how the game goes, we can talk about feelings after. We have a lot of work to do before that, so I'm totally focused on the job in hand.”