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It had been years since a Cardiff City goal had prompted a noise quite like it.

As David Turnbull headed the League One leaders level against Chelsea, Cardiff City Stadium – sold out for a Bluebirds game for the first time since they were last in the Premier League in 2019 – heaved with the deafening din of wild celebrations.

Chelsea ultimately won this compelling EFL Cup quarter-final but, for Cardiff, this was about more than the result.

This is a club which had lost its way in the Championship – dismal on the pitch and divided off it, with disillusioned supporters staging protests and turning on the board.

Having dropped down to the third tier of English football for the first time in 22 years, however, Cardiff have rediscovered their joy.

Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy arrived in the summer and overhauled the playing style, replacing the plodding, tedious approach of some of his predecessors with an exhilarating, occasionally risky, possession-based brand of forward-thinking football.

The fact he has instigated this change by building his team around a core of local young players has endeared him further to a fanbase who had started to view attending games as something of a chore.

Cardiff took on the challenge with gusto, shackling Chelsea with a disciplined and physically intense defensive display, while also sticking to their attacking principles whenever they had possession.

“I’m very proud of all the players and the effort they put in, the performance. It’s probably just the hope that kills you when you score a goal,” said Barry-Murphy.

“I felt we were in the ascendancy and had a great chance to maybe grab a winner, but it wasn’t to be. It was a great occasion for everyone.”

Cardiff will have earned plenty of new admirers. Premier League clubs had already been eyeing up some of their burgeoning talents, and players such as Dylan Lawlor looked like they were born to play against high-class opposition.

Barry-Murphy will also have enhanced his reputation, pitting his wits against his former Manchester City coaching colleague, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.

Cardiff return to League One action on Saturday. Four days after battling with the Club World Cup champions, they travel to Lincoln City.

One day, Barry-Murphy hopes to be leading the Bluebirds against teams such as Chelsea on a regular basis.

“I think it gives us an insight into what it takes to play at the level the opposition are playing at. We believe some of our players can definitely get to that level,” he said.

“You get a taste of this type of evening at the stadium. It was incredible and the atmosphere was incredible. The support was right behind us, even at 3-1, right to the last minute.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insists he is “happy” at the club and “falling more in love with the players”, days after saying he experienced “the worst 48 hours” of his tenure.

The Blues sit fourth in the Premier League following victory over Everton on Saturday and have now progressed to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup after beating League One side Cardiff City 3-1 on Tuesday in south Wales.

But both fixtures have been overshadowed by Maresca’s comments after the Everton win – that the two days prior to the match were “the worst since I joined the club because people didn’t support me and the team”.

It remains unclear who or what exactly the comments were directed at and Maresca did not elaborate when questioned during his news conference on Monday.

But, following victory over Cardiff – where the Italian had to rely on goals from substitutes Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho to secure progression – Maresca said he does feel supported.

“I said many times in many press conferences, the support, they have always been there, knowing that any supporters in the world when you don’t win, they are not happy,” he said.

“So in some moments when you don’t win games, they have been not happy, but it’s normal. But overall, the fans have always been there.

Maresca, who led the Blues to Club World Cup and Europa Conference League glory earlier this year, has now taken Chelsea to three semi-finals in 18 months.

But speculation around what he has said, and what he has not, has rumbled on from Saturday with his failure to explain what he meant.

Maresca’s team selection and rotation policy has come under criticism at times this season and the former Leicester boss is believed to have wanted more protection from figures within Chelsea during their recent four-game winless run.

He has also been quick to highlight his injury and suspension problems, with star forward Cole Palmer injured for much of the season while key midfielder Moises Caicedo is serving a three-match suspension and managing an ongoing knee issue.

Having qualified for the Champions League in his first season in charge then guided Chelsea to two trophies, Maresca perhaps feels he should receive more support.

Reaching the last four of the League Cup puts the Blues as contenders for another piece of silverware.

Asked if he felt backed by the club, Maresca told Sky Sports: “Tonight the focus has to be that we reached the semi-final, the support from fans has always been there.

What hits you most in Cairo, after the noise, is the sheer number of people.

Egypt has a population of about 120 million. Its capital city is home to 23 million.

For context, the population of Liverpool is just under one million.

Come to appreciate that and only then do you begin to understand the scale of national fury that followed when Mohamed Salah gave his incendiary interview on 6 December, claiming Liverpool had “thrown him under the bus”.

“This interview was like a revolution in Egypt,” says Diaa El-Sayed, the former Egypt assistant coach, who has known Salah since he was 16.

“99% of Egypt supports Salah, and you can see from the reaction at Anfield that the Liverpool fans support him too.”

Across British media, Salah was criticised heavily for his actions.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher branded the interview a “disgrace” and accused the 33-year-old of throwing the club under the bus.

Others insisted Salah was in the wrong for airing his grievances in public. Yet in Cairo, the ‘Egyptian King’ can do no wrong.

“Before Salah, no-one supported Liverpool here,” says Noura Essam, a Cairo local. “Before Salah, we didn’t have a global figure, so we will always support him.”

During the 2018 presidential election, more than one million Egyptians crossed out the names of the listed candidates and cast their vote for Salah.

He is an unofficial leader. In these parts, he is known as the ‘Fourth Pyramid’.

Around Ramses Square, the Cairo transport hub where Salah would change buses to reach training during his nine-hour round commute as a teenager, the cafe-goers describe their disbelief when he was named on the bench for three games in a row by Arne Slot and then left out of the squad for the Champions League trip to Inter Milan.

“When Liverpool played in Milan, all of Egypt supported Inter Milan,” says Osama Ismail, a former Egyptian FA spokesman.

At the Cairo International Stadium, where Egypt beat Nigeria 2-1 in a friendly before departing for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), the mood is one of getting behind their “son” and lifting his morale as the Pharaohs look to win their first title since 2010.

“We say he is our son, so we were emotionally taken aback because it felt like a humiliation for one of our family,” says Ahmed Gamal Ali, a Cairo-based journalist.

“To see one of our own hurting was shocking and the spontaneous national response was basically autopilot.

“It would be judgmental to say if he was right or wrong to do the interview, as we didn’t live through his feelings, but this is the mindset of players like him and [Cristiano] Ronaldo.”

At the Egypt team hotel on the outskirts of Cairo, those who have shared the dressing room with Salah are not concerned about their captain’s actions, insisting he is a model professional.

“Working with Mo is the best part of my job,” says one staff member.

Another jokes that they all have him in their Fantasy Premier League team. The majority have all posted on social media in support of Salah over the past week and shared his content.

Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan, their all-time record goalscorer, had a lengthy discussion with Salah last week. The coach conducted it with the belief Egypt will need Salah at his best – regardless of his situation at Liverpool – to have a chance in Morocco.

So what about the situation at Liverpool? At Anfield last Saturday, was Salah saying farewell forever or goodbye for now?

Before Salah left Merseyside for Afcon, Slot insisted “there was no issue to resolve” when it came to picking the Egyptian, while his club-mates said they wanted him to stay.

Importantly, Salah still considers himself as one of the first names on the Liverpool team sheet. While he is away, his agent Ramy Abbas will engage in talks with the club.

In recent years, Salah has usually got what he wants for both club and country.

This is a man who was sitting on a throne inside Anfield in April to celebrate his new contract – having previously indicated he might leave and was “more out than in”.

In 2018, he got his way after a high-level dispute with the Egyptian FA over his image rights that led to government intervention.

Yet for the first time in a long time, it seems as if the end of the love affair between Salah and Liverpool is on the horizon.

The understanding is neither Liverpool nor Salah want to cut ties in January, though a move at the end of the season may suit both parties.

Clubs in Saudi Arabia are interested in signing a player whose current deal at Anfield, worth £400,000 a week, expires in 2027.

There is belief that even if he moves away, Salah could return to live in Liverpool with his wife and two daughters once he retires because they love the British way of life.

On the road heading out of Cairo and towards the airport, a journey Salah has made countless times, the billboards are filled with his image.

In Egypt, all roads lead to Salah.

On TV, a new advert is doing the rounds, with Salah asked by his daughters why he is still training when he has won everything with Liverpool.

Salah wants to win with Egypt. Until April 2018, his social media handle was @MoSalah22 as a mark of respect to Mohamed Aboutrika, who wore the number 22 at Al-Ahly and won Afcon twice.

Aboutrika was Salah’s football hero. but the ’22’ was taken out after Aboutrika, widely regarded as one of the greatest African and Arab players, was placed on Egypt’s terror list in 2017.

Aboutrika was added to the list because of alleged links with the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt considers a terrorist organisation. He was removed from the list in 2024.

Unlike Aboutrika, Salah has never won Afcon, losing the final in 2017 and 2021. Triumph at the tournament remains a major ambition. He believes playing in the Premier League gives him the best chance of achieving it.

Succeeding with his country would mean a lot. Salah has played at only one World Cup so far – in 2018, where he wasn’t fully fit, having damaged his shoulder in that year’s Champions League final as Liverpool lost to Real Madrid. Egypt went out at the group stage in Russia, losing all three matches.

Next year’s World Cup – where Egypt have been drawn in a group with Belgium, Iran and New Zealand – offers another chance on the biggest stage.

But for now, the focus is on succeeding with the Pharaohs in Morocco. His agent Abbas will deal with the situation at Liverpool, where it increasingly looks as if Salah will no longer be the focal point.

Saturday’s reaction at Anfield, where Salah appeared as a first-half substitute in a 2-0 win over Brighton, suggested he will always be adored in Liverpool. Judging by the mood in Cairo, they will always support their son.

“Salah always wants to win but there is double motivation now to prove that he is still one of the best. We already know he is the best,” says Mohamed Mamoun, a fan at the stadium.

Gerwyn Price began his bid for a second PDC world title with a convincing straight-set victory over Adam Gawlas.

Price, 40, lost only two of the 11 legs that were played, averaged 96.44 and hit six 180s in a dominant first-round display.

Czech thrower Gawlas, a former UK Open semi-finalist, was heavily outscored by Price throughout and was restricted to just three darts at doubles in the entire contest.

Five years on from his world title win, Welshman Price is among the favourites to lift the trophy again this time around, at the end of a consistent year in which he has had several deep runs in majors.

“I played pretty decent apart from the two legs I gave away,” the ninth seed, who enjoyed good support from the Alexandra Palace crowd, told Sky Sports.

Sixth seed Danny Noppert also made it through to round two with a 3-1 win against fellow Dutchman Jurjen van der Velde, who tried to combat the Alexandra Palace wasps by using bug spray on stage before the match.

Noppert will next play another debutant, England’s Justin Hood, who averaged 99.59 in a straight-set win over Nick Kenny of Wales during the afternoon session.

Chris Dobey’s 3-1 win against China’s Xiaochen Zong meant all three seeds in action on Tuesday progressed to the last 64.

In the day’s opening match, Scotland’s Alan Soutar missed 15 match darts before finally defeating Finnish debutant Teemu Harju in a sudden-death leg.

In an epic that lasted almost an hour and a half, 33-year-old Harju missed four match darts of his own in the sixth leg of the deciding set.

Soutar, 47, had flown into a two-set lead without losing a leg, averaging 107.36 at that stage and hitting six of his first eight attempts at doubles.

But while Harju maintained a steady level, Soutar’s overall three-dart average dropped closer to 90 and when opportunities arose, he was unable to put the match away.

Harju had the advantage of throwing first in the 11th and deciding leg of the fifth set at Alexandra Palace, but Soutar broke to win – landing his first dart at double 16 to complete a 45 checkout.

The record number of missed match darts in a major match is 18, by three-time world champion John Part.

Part was wearing glasses on stage for the first time and missed a succession of doubles in a defeat by Andy Hamilton in their Players Championship Finals contest in Minehead in 2013.

Soutar will face European Championship winner and 10th seed Gian van Veen of the Netherlands in round two.

England’s Scott Williams, a semi-finalist at Alexandra Palace in 2024, hit nine of his 14 attempts at doubles in a fine display of finishing as he beat Paolo Nebrida of the Philippines 3-0.

There is no afternoon session on Wednesday, meaning play will get under way at 19:00 GMT with four first-round ties scheduled.

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