WEMBLEY | There were some who questioned the wisdom of 21,000 fans returning for the FA Cup final, but that was before Youri Tielemans produced a Wembley roar for the ages to hand Leicester City the trophy for the first time in their history.
It was not the tactical tweaks of Thomas Tuchel, nor a recent history of underdog dreams being dashed – there has been just one new winner of the competition in the last 12 years – which was to define the moment crowds gave cup finals meaning again. Instead, a moment of magic from Tielemans saw the Belgian become the first Foxes player to score in English football’s showpiece since 1963.
Chelsea’s own end lapsed into a moment of matched ecstasy before VAR found Ben Chilwell offside against his former club.
There are still bigger prizes to be won for the Blues in a fortnight, but a moment which belonged to Leicester began with Jorginho flapping, watching the connection of Tielemans’ strike, realising he had unwittingly left isolated in the middle of the park.
Not only was it one of the great FA Cup final goals, it produced a moment of triumph in front of the Leicester end which has not been paralleled all season.
Chelsea, for their part, might have committed the cardinal sin of wearing tracksuits to the final, but whatever allegations of perceived disrespect were bandied around before kick-off, this is an occasion which is still capable of creating once-in-a-generation memories. Tuchel played clever, bringing Reece James into right centre-back with Cesar Azpilicueta at wing-back, a ploy to frustrate Jamie Vardy’s pace.
At the other end, Timo Werner did some frustrating of his own as he handed Wesley Fofana block after block and even headed one of Chelsea’s best opportunities out of Azpilicueta’s path.
Would the presence of thousands of supporters have been right without a moment of spoiling from VAR? Regardless, Kasper Schmeichel deserved his clean sheet for at least two match-winning saves.
It took all the Dane’s strength not to dive into the crowd at full-time as the Srivaddhanaprabhas waved heavenward under the eyes of Vichai’s banner to cap a Leicester triumph that meant more.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3w9JFMQ
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