Barney Ronay on Leicester's triumph
Congratulations to Leicester City, then, for finally winning the FA Cup final after 137 years of waiting. Fifth time lucky! Commiserations to Chelsea, meanwhile, who have now lost two FA Cup finals on the bounce. Hey, there’s always the Champions League. In the meantime, David Hytner’s verdict from Wembley has landed, so you know what to do. Thanks for reading this MBM!
Thomas Tuchel speaks to BT Sport. “I think we are just unlucky today. I don’t see why Leicester should win this game except for a shot in the top corner from out of nothing. I thought we controlled the counter-attacks excellent, I thought we controlled the strikers and midfield excellent, we did not allow one chance, one half-chance, nothing. We had maybe a sure goal with Azpilicueta only for someone to deflect it in front of him, we were a bit too hectic in decision-making, we had many situations. In the second half we had total control, we concede a goal out of nothing, we had a big save from Schmeichel and a narrow decision for offside, so altogether it’s super-unlucky. It can happen in football. If it happens in a final it is not good, we are disappointed, but there is no need to be angry with anybody. We wanted it a bit too much, we were a bit hectic, our decisions were not so good as normal, but I am not angry at them. We deserved to score, and for me it is much more 1-0 for us than 1-0 for them, but this can happen in football and you accept it. Once you enter a final there is no guarantee.”
That possibly reads a bit less sporting than Tuchel’s actual tone suggested; it felt like he was making a point of praising his own players rather than trying to diminish anything Leicester did. Though he did get a bit abrupt when Des Kelly asked him whether this would have any effect on the Premier League game with Leicester on Tuesday, which suggests a little irritation bubbling away not so far from the surface.
Brendan Rodgers speaks to the Beeb. “It’s an amazing feeling. I wasn’t aware before I came to Leicester that they hadn’t won the FA Cup. So to be able to give that to these supporters, plus Top and his family, makes this a special day. It’s a real collective effort at Leicester, from the board, players, staff and supporters. It’s an amazing day for the city. Youri’s goal was like an old-school FA Cup winning goal, but also Kasper’s saves. I thought we were the better team overall. We were super-aggressive and always a threat with the ball. Chelsea are an amazing team but I though we deserved to win. It’s the FA Cup, and as a British coach, it means so much. I’m so proud, but more happy for everyone else. A monumental performance and what a day for everyone involved with Leicester!”
Leicester’s goalscoring hero Youri Tielemans speaks to the BBC. “It feels really good! It’s amazing! I am really glad to score the goal that helped the team to win the game. It was a really tight game. To score in the final ... what a goal that was! I am really happy for the team and the fans! The goal was really good! Today I got a text message saying I had to hit for the top corner ... and I did it! It is really special to have the fans in today. I hope everyone was safe. And the fans watching it from home, I hope they are proud of us. I am sure they are. It is emotional for Top [the nickname of Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha] and his family because they built this club towards glory. We will give everything for the men who built this club and its legacy. Something special started when they won the league, and we have just built it up and hopefully we can continue. We have a very important game on Tuesday! We will enjoy and celebrate and think about Tuesday later on!”
For a cup final that took quite a while to get going, that match threw up quite a few narratives. A goal to remember by Youri Tielemans; a couple of outstanding saves by the Jim Montgomery de nos jours, Kasper Schmeichel, from Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount; and that VAR drama at the end, Wes Morgan an inch or so away from own-goal heartbreak, the old boy making the final clearance as the whistle went. What a game! One for Chelsea to forget, admittedly, but otherwise it’s the stuff of instant Leicester legend. “In some ways Leicester’s FA Cup triumph is even more impressive than their 2016 title,” suggests Kári Tulinius. “That they’ve managed to defy gravity since winning the league, stay as one of the top teams in England, and have added a major trophy to their collection, changes their story, from flukey winners to serial champions. What a team!”
Chelsea sportingly waited to watch Leicester claim the cup for the first time in the club’s long history. A difficult moment for a team who played their part in a slow-developing final that eventually caught the imagination and delivered some genuine drama. No doubt they’ll channel this feeling into extra determination for the Champions League final, a negative turned positive, but for now, it’s heads down, and off they trudge.
After giving a joyous Brendan Rodgers the bumps, Leicester come up and claim their medals. Then Kasper Schmeichel takes possession of the FA Cup, wanders over to Wes Morgan, and the pair hoist it into the air! Up goes the cup, down come the silver streamers, and Leicester’s long, long, long, long, long wait to win an FA Cup final is over!
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Chelsea, to a man, are down on their haunches. Gutted. Who can blame them after the way VAR pulled the rug away so dramatically from under their feet. But they’ve had plenty of FA Cup success recently, and this is all about Leicester. The Foxes form a huge ring, into which Jamie Vardy launches himself with great abandon! Everyone jumping, the Leicester fans singing, Gary Lineker apologising to Chelsea-supporting BBC viewers for getting carried away, Chelsea-supporting pundit Ashley Cole sad about the result but genuinely pleased for the presenter.
Kasper Schmeichel, having raced towards the Leicester fans with the rest of the team, cavorting jubilantly, comes away to talk to the BBC. “I can’t begin to describe it ... wow, what a day ... it’s amazing, it’s what dreams are made of ... I’ve dreamed of this since I was a child ... the performance, the grit and determination ... everybody’s been sensational, the team behind the team ... when you do things properly, you have an eternal belief to what you can achieve ... this is what we dreamt of, what we talked about for so many years ... Youri ... wow! What a finish! I didn’t even dare to celebrate because there’s always going to be VAR ... we’ll enjoy it today but tomorrow we’re training again ... they’re a top-class side and will want revenge!”
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A huge beam plays across Brendan Rodgers’ face. He waves up at the club owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, who will no doubt be thinking of his late father Vichai right now. On the BBC, Gary Lineker is certainly thinking of his, voice cracking as he remembers how his dad saw Leicester lose four finals during his lifetime, and hopes he’s somewhere watching this one from above.
Leicester players and fans erupt in glee! Wes Morgan, so close to heartbreak, makes the final clearance of the match. A historic victory for the Foxes! They won the final in style, Youri Tielemans scoring a sensational winner, Kasper Schmeichel making a couple of huge late saves. There will no doubt be some controversy over the late VAR let-off, but take nothing away from Leicester, who were magnificent in that second half.
FULL TIME: Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City
Leicester City win the FA Cup for the first time in their history! Fifth final lucky!
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90 min +5: Chilwell crosses from the left. Morgan crashes a header upfield. And then ...
90 min +4: Vardy, buzzing around like only Vardy can, earns a corner on the left. A fair chance Leicester are going to play it short. And they do. Maddison guards it as long as he can before giving the ball back to Chelsea. One last chance for the pre-match favourites?
90 min +3: A garden-variety foul in the midfield allows Leicester to eat up a few more seconds.
90 min +2: The original relief of the Chelsea fans, followed by the eruption from Leicester fans, nearly took the roof off Wembley. Wow, we’ve missed the fans.
90 min +1: The first of five added minutes flies by. What a cauldron Wembley is right now!
NO GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City
... but out come the VAR rulers! Chilwell was inches offside when receiving Silva’s pass, and the goal is disallowed! It’s the correct decision, but oh so close, and that’s got to hurt.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Leicester City (Morgan og 89)
Silva creams a diagonal pass towards Chilwell on the left. Chilwell meets it as it drops, six yards out, and sends it goalwards. Soyuncu clears off the line, but the ball pinballs onto Morgan and into the net. Chelsea go wild!
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88 min: From the corner, Schmeichel nearly goes from hero to zero, dropping carelessly in the six-yard box, but he quickly gathers both himself and the loose ball.
87 min: Hudson-Odoi crosses from the right. Fofana heads clear. Hudson-Odoi tries again. This time Havertz tees up for Mount, who creams a rising shot towards the top right. It’s a hell of a strike, and surely going in, but Schmeichel sticks out a strong hand and makes one of the great cup-final saves, turning the ball away for a corner!
85 min: Vardy barges his way down the inside-right channel and earns a corner off Silva, who only just managed to hold the Leicester striker off. Nothing comes of the set piece, but that earned a huge roar from the Leicester faithful, eating up more time as it did.
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84 min: Giroud’s first act is an attempt to find Havertz on the left. His pass flies harmlessly out of play. The clock ticks on. Wembley is choc-a-bloc with extremely nervous punters, both sets of fans jangling away for very different reasons.
83 min: Rudiger has a rake from distance. It flies miles over the bar, and wide also. Leicester will be more than happy to see Chelsea reduced to this.
82 min: Chelsea make their last permitted change of the 90 minutes. Giroud comes on for Werner. Leicester meanwhile replace Thomas and Perez with Choudhury and ... the 37-year-old captain Wes Morgan!
80 min: Chelsea are beginning to ask some questions, finally. Leicester are struggling to get out of their final third. You can hardly blame them for opting to keep hold of what they have, with the first FA Cup in their 137-year history so close.
78 min: Kante dribbles into the Chelsea box down the right. He wedges across the face of goal for Chilwell, who heads down towards the bottom left. The ball’s going in, but Schmeichel arches his back and claws it out spectacularly. Fofana deals with the resulting corner. What a save! Chilwell was very close to silencing those panto boos.
76 min: The 19-year-old full back, so close to writing one of those FA Cup final fairytales, is happily good to continue.
75 min: Azpilicueta is immediately replaced, along with Jorginho. Havertz and Hudson-Odoi come on. Thomas is still being treated by the doctor.
74 min: Thomas and Azpilicueta clash heads accidentally, and on come the doctors.
73 min: As Chelsea press Leicester back, Maddison latches onto a loose ball and purchases a cheap free kick off Azpilicueta. Clumsy rather than malicious from the Chelsea captain, though you’ve seen yellows flashed for less. The referee keeps his card in his pocket.
72 min: Pulisic wins a corner off Ndidi down the right. James takes. Soyuncu heads gloriously clear, and within seconds the ball is back at the feet of Kepa.
71 min: Mount breaks into the Leicester box down the right. He’s not quite in control, though, and the ball breaks through to Schmeichel. Mount then goes over, and the Chelsea fans claim a penalty, but the player himself doesn’t. There was no meaningful contact with the nearby Soyuncu.
70 min: Chelsea pass and probe, but go nowhere in particular. Leicester seem quite happy to sit back and hold their shape right now, fond of a good old counter-attack as they are.
68 min: In the meantime, Chelsea make a double change, swapping Ziyech for Pulisic, while replacing Alonso with the former Leicester charge Chilwell. The full-back is immediately on the receiving end of some extremely loud pantomime boos.
67 min: Iheanacho hasn’t done much, and he’s hooked in favour of Maddison.
66 min: That was such a sweetly struck shot by Tielemans. One of those when you knew, just knew, it was flying in, the split second the ball left his boot.
65 min: Chelsea are livid, claiming Perez handled while charging down James’s pass. But they’re not getting the decision, correctly so: the ball came off his knee and onto his arm in double-quick time. Still, they go up the other end, Ziyech’s speculative effort deflected out for a corner. Nothing comes from the set piece, but that’s a decent immediate response to falling behind.
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CLASSIC CUP-FINAL GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Leicester City (Tielemans 63)
James passes upfield. Perez blocks. Thomas rolls a pass infield for Tielemans, who takes a touch forward, strides calmly towards the ball, and creams a rising shot into the top left! Kepa had no chance! That’s a wonderful strike; a cannon for the canon.
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62 min: A bit of space for Azpilicueta down the right. He shins a cross towards the bottom right, an easy gather for Schmeichel. And then ...
61 min: Tielemans and Perez play the corner short, and dear me, what a waste. But this is a decent period of sustained pressure by Leicester, their first of the match. Their fans respond accordingly with some of the much-missed hollering, and then Chelsea give it a chorus of Carefree. Ah the sweet, sweet sound of non-artificially-generated crowd noise!
60 min: Vardy chases a long ball down the right and earns a throw, deep in Chelsea territory. Albrighton’s cute shimmy earns him a yard, and his low whip is sliced out for a corner by Rudiger.
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58 min: Silva loops long down the inside-right channel for Werner, but there’s never a chance of the Chelsea striker reaching the ball. Schmeichel shepherds it out for a goal kick.
56 min: Tielemans whips viciously in from the right. With Vardy lurking, James does extremely well to deflect the ball out for a corner. Chelsea only half-clear the set piece, allowing Tielemans to curl in again from the right. Soyuncu isn’t far away from making his third attempt on goal, but Alonso eyebrows away just in time. Much better from Leicester.
55 min: This is scrappy nonsense. Time for your annual reminder that, even during the FA Cup’s heyday, more finals were deathly dull than not.
53 min: Jorginho does indeed try to open the game up, but it’s by sliding a lovely pass down the right channel for Kante, who reaches the byline and cuts back. Alonso, rushing in from the left, heads goalwards but softly and straight at Schmeichel.
52 min: It looks like James Maddison might be on soon. He’s warming up in the determined style. “This needs Jorginho to open the game up with another priceless back pass to Kepa,” quips Paul Janaway.
50 min: Alonso briefly threatens to break down the left but Fofana steps in to intercept. Leicester launch a long ball up towards Vardy, who sniffs around only for Kepa to race out of his box to bash clear. That’s got the crowd going again, if nothing else.
48 min: Mount scampers down the left only to run the ball out for a goal kick. A quiet start to the second 45, and a reminder that this could go to extra time and penalties.
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47 min: Leicester start the half on the front foot, albeit very gently. Not a whole lot going on, but it’s happening in Chelsea’s half.
Chelsea get the second half underway. There have been no half-time changes, so presumably Werner has recovered from his self-inflicted injury.
Half-time checklist. Pint: yes. Pie: yes. Personal comfort break: yes. Subscribe to the Fiver: well if I must.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Leicester City
The whistle goes to end a poor first half. Not a single effort on target. Second-half scoring spree, please!
45 min +2: Mount grooves down the right and forces Soyuncu into sliding out for Chelsea’s sixth corner of the afternoon. Ziyech takes; Vardy blooters clear.
45 min +1: The first of two extra first-half minutes passes without incident.
45 min: James hoicks the corner straight out of play. Meanwhile Werner looks to have hurt himself when making that challenge on Thomas. He’s not moving freely, and was down on his haunches before that corner, blowing hard. Leicester go up the other end, Tielemans wedging gracefully down the inside-right channel, Vardy stealing into the Chelsea box and eyebrowing the dropping ball wide left. That would have been some goal.
44 min: Albrighton’s poor pass inside from the Leicester right finds Werner, who drives at the Chelsea box and slams a low shot wide left. But it’s taken a little nick off Fofana, and it’s another Chelsea corner.
42 min: Thomas looks lively for Leicester in attack, thrusting up the left whenever he can. His latest sortie up the wing finds Perez infield. Perez turns Jorginho and is fouled for his trouble. Tielemans sends the resulting free kick towards Soyuncu, 12 yards out and level with the left-hand post. Soyuncu flashes his header wide.
40 min: Werner busies himself down the right and creams a couple of cross-cum-shots. Both are blocked by Fofana, who flings himself around in the heroic style. Werner goes chasing after the second rebound, and slips as he hysterically lunges towards Thomas. He catches his man and earns Chelsea’s first yellow card.
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38 min: Castagne has dropped back to fill the Evans-shaped gap in the Leicester defence.
37 min: Leicester are putting in a few strong challenges right now, enraging the Chelsea support while entertaining their own.
35 min: Castagne comes through the back of Jorginho, then seconds later Fofana clatters into Werner. The second challenge earns the first yellow card of the game. Leicester’s defence is a wee bit rattled at the minute, as they react to the departure of Evans.
34 min: Evans departs the field of play, disappointment etched across his face, and is replaced by Albrighton.
32 min: The selection of Evans was a gamble, it would seem, because the poor chap can’t continue. He drops to the floor and waves sadly to the bench.
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31 min: Leicester are a little bit ponderous when they do attempt to launch attacks. Under no pressure, Ndidi rolls a simple pass behind Iheanacho and out for a throw.
29 min: Another Chelsea corner down the right. They’ve been getting plenty of joy along this flank. Ziyech takes. Evans clatters a header upfield, but Chelsea come straight back at Leicester. Mount swings in from the right. Silva returns it from the left. At the right-hand post, six yards out, Werner and Azpilicueta await ... then both miss the cross, which flies out for a goal kick. Leicester were rocking a little there.
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27 min: Werner is allowed to romp down the middle of the park, Evans happy to back off and let him shoot from distance. Good decision this time, as the eventual effort sails miles over the bar.
26 min: A little bit of room for Tielemans, 25 yards out, after some good work down the left by Soyuncu and Perez. He takes too much time, though, and his eventual shot is blocked the nanosecond it leaves his boot. “I should point out that when The Mighty Jambos were routed in ‘86 (as referenced at 4pm) we were in our weird silver change strip,” writes Neil Irving Colquhoun. “I feel this bodes well for Leicester, but what do I know.”
24 min: Schmeichel plucks the corner out of the sky. It is tipping down.
23 min: Ziyech makes room down the left and passes infield for Alonso, who makes a meal of trapping the ball, eight yards out, allowing Tielemans to clear. But Chelsea come again, Mount drifting in from the right and aiming for the bottom right from the edge of the box. The ball whistles inches wide of the post, Fofana deflecting it out for a corner.
22 min: The sun was shining earlier; the rain’s coming down in rods right now. Ah the British summer.
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20 min: Fofana launches long down the inside-right channel. Iheanacho meets the dropping ball and attempts to toe-poke it around Silva. The ball hits Silva’s hand, accidentally so, but it’s a free kick nonetheless. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Chelsea box. Tielemans curls it long, towards Soyuncu, six yards out. He heads it harmlessly over the bar. Evans, incidentally, was in front of Soyuncu, busy executing a fresh-air bicycle kick. Well, you’ve got to seize the day, haven’t you.
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18 min: The Leicester fans are giving it plenty. Chelsea’s supporters, having seen it all before, are a little quieter, but eventually summon a response. On the field, Chelsea continue to have the better of it; they’ve enjoyed 70 percent of possession so far.
16 min: Leicester finally bare their teeth. Tielemans rolls a pass down the right for Castagne, who beats Alonso for pace and crosses low. Vardy takes a first-time swing at the ball. His shot looks bound to work Kepa, but James gets in the road to block brilliantly.
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15 min: Having said that, they’ve yet to force Schmeichel into work. Rudiger gets impatient and has a dig from the best part of 30 yards. Schmeichel calmly watches it bobbling wide right.
14 min: Leicester are struggling to hold onto possession right now. Chelsea have settled the quicker, as you’d expect a team playing its fourth final in five years to.
12 min: Tielemans clips Jorginho to the floor, from the side, maybe a little bit from behind. A few minutes later, and you suspect that would have been a yellow card, but you know how these things roll. Just a stern talking-to.
10 min: Thomas launches a long pass down the left, hoping to release Vardy. James isn’t having any of it, though, a meaty shoulder charge easing the Leicester striker off the ball, which rolls out for a goal kick.
8 min: Mount earns another corner down the right, backheeling cleverly off the static Soyuncu. Leicester feel the pressure during the game of head tennis that breaks out in their box, but eventually clear the set piece. Chelsea have come fast out of the blocks, and on that subject, here’s Mary Waltz: “Werner reminds me of a greyhound chasing a squirrel. One of these days I half expect him to run through the goal nets.”
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6 min: Azpilicueta and Mount combine down the right to earn the first corner of the match off Thomas. Nothing much comes of it, but Chelsea have started very brightly.
5 min: Ziyech rolls a pass down the left and nearly releases Alonso into the box, but Fofana is across quickly to barge his opponent off the ball and clear. A huge cheer of approval from the Leicester support.
3 min: Leicester launch their first sortie into Chelsea territory. A ball’s slipped down the left for Vardy, who like Werner before him, sends a speculative ball infield towards nobody in particular.
2 min: Werner has another skitter down the right. It leads to nothing, but it looks like being a long afternoon for Soyuncu.
1 min: A huge roar greets the kick-off. Beautiful bedlam. Leicester ship possession quickly, and within 15 seconds Werner is tearing down the right. He’s got nobody in support and rolls a cross into the arms of Schmeichel. Louis Saha’s 25-second goal for Everton in 2009 remains the benchmark.
Leicester City kick off the 2021 FA Cup final ... but only after everyone takes a knee. There’s no room for racism. Challenge it. Report it. Change it. Kick it out.
Here come the teams! A huge Wembley roar as the players take to the pitch, moments after a rousing rendition of Abide With Me. Prince William, the president of the FA, comes out to meet both teams. Presumably he won’t be telling anybody they look like “pansies”, like his grandfather did in 1953. A quick blast of God Save The Queen, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
Pre-match postbag. “As a lover of sport in the 80s, my mind immediately rewinds to the joys of FA Cup final day on television in that decade,” begins our old pal Steve Pye. “The Cup final songs; visits to hotels; the coach journey to Wembley; Lineker v Lawrenson at snooker; the celebrity match before the main event. I’ve written a blog about it all if you would like to wallow in nostalgia.” Yes please! Clickity click, folks, though do make sure to come back, won’t you?
Meanwhile Brian Sharon writes: “Despite supporting Arsenal, I did absolutely enjoy the Op Art stylings of that video (3.45pm). Loved seeing the Chelsea Women represented so prominently - what a team they are. Still, here’s hoping it’s Leicester who are living the life of (Bridget) Riley at the end of this one.”
Cup-final suit-watch. I’ll make no comment, seeing I’m in a minority of one who thought Liverpool’s infamous white suits of 1996 were quite nice. Anyway, for the record, here’s how Leicester turned out ...
... while Chelsea opted to turn up in their work clobber. Tradition? No thanks! No thanks!
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In lieu of official cup-final singles, here are a couple of deep cuts. In fact, this first one is a veritable Chelsea Smile, the never-played b-side to the evergreen Blue Is The Colour, and seemingly the track on which Noel Gallagher built a whole catalogue of derivative album filler and dreary b-sides.
Meanwhile here’s Leicester’s celebration of their 1973-74 season, which saw them reach the semis of the cup and finish mid-table in the First Division. Like all of the greatest pop singles, it’s in and out before you know it; at a finely honed 1’33”, it makes Song 2 feel like the Ring Cycle.
Thomas Tuchel speaks to the BBC. “I have had worse days in my life! It cannot get much better. I feel very grateful to arrive with a strong club and a strong team, in the most prestigious cup final maybe in the world, at least in Europe. It is quite a big day and the job is not finished, we absolutely want to win. We know it’s going to be tough but we want to get the trophy. We were angry with our performance [against Arsenal]. Sometimes it is good to have a lesson to learn before a big match. We cannot get the points back, but we can show we learned the lesson, and it’s a cup final so we have to be at our very best.”
Cesar Azpilicueta’s turn. “We know the tradition of the FA Cup in this country, and for Chelsea, so today is a special day, and with the fans back it is extra special. It is a massive opportunity, we are back in an FA Cup final and we have the Champions League final as well, so today is a big day, and we have to be ready for it. It is a special atmosphere in the FA Cup final and hopefully we can share the joy after the game.”
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Kasper Schmeichel talks to the BBC. “It’s an amazing occasion, something I’ve dreamed of all my life. Fans will know how long it’s been since we’ve been in a final, and it’s an amazing opportunity for all of us. Being at Wembley, and having fans after the year we’ve all had, it’s fantastic, a sign of progress, and hopefully a sign of things to come.”
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Chelsea have opted for Marcos Alonso at left-back, so Ben Chilwell won’t get to start against his former club. Hakim Ziyech gets the nod ahead of Kai Havertz and last year’s cup-final goalscorer Christian Pulisic. Kepa keeps his place as cup keeper, but Tammy Abraham has been left out completely.
The big news for Leicester: Jonny Evans has recovered from his heel injury. Ayoze Perez starts, as he has done in every round this season, so James Maddison is on the bench.
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The teams
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, James, Kante, Jorginho, Alonso, Ziyech, Mount, Werner.
Subs: Pulisic, Zouma, Mendy, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Chilwell, Gilmour, Havertz, Emerson Palmieri.
Leicester City: Schmeichel, Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu, Castagne, Tielemans, Ndidi, Thomas, Perez, Vardy, Iheanacho.
Subs: Morgan, Maddison, Albrighton, Ward, Amartey, Choudhury, Ricardo Pereira, Mendy, Praet.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
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Brendan Rodgers talks to BT Sport. “Especially as a British coach, this is very special, we’ve obviously all grown up with it, and seen it throughout our lives. It’s an opportunity for us to create history ... we’re very excited about the challenge. Every experience I’ve had allows me to stand here today, and I’m very grateful, but you have to keep looking forward. We’ve tried to keep things as normal as we can. For me, every game has been a big game, so when you’re preparing for a final, it’s pretty much the same. What’s important, you’re not a tourist, to take photographs of a great occasion, we’re here to win.”
The cover of this year’s big-match programme. Ten pounds! [grumbles in the aged style] Don’t get us started on the price of the burgers and bottled water.
Leicester, forced out of the blue shirts in which they lost the 1949, 1961 and 1969 finals – they wore white in 1963 – will this time try their luck in Heart of Midlothian maroon. Let’s hope for their sake they channel the late-50s pomp of Dave Mackay and Alex ‘Golden Vision’ Young, as opposed to, say, 1986’s distinctly more unfortunate John Robertson and John Colquhoun. Hats will be very much off if any of Brendan Rodgers’ men reference Hearts maestro Tommy Murray by taking a seat on the ball in the build-up to the deciding goal.
Chelsea will sport a mind-bending new shirt today. It’s a homage to Op-Art, an illusionary visual style which has its roots in the Bauhaus, the famous German art school, so Thomas Tuchel doubtless approves, and was popularised during the swinging Sixties, for example in the fashions of the nearby Kings Rahd. The concept stretches a point beyond the limits of a £104.95 recycled polyester shirt, but to be fair, it does look lovely and you’d need a heart of stone not to enjoy the accompanying film, which could only be more Sixties if it concluded with Tuchel driving off in an E-type Jag with a leggy model.
Going to the match. A crowd of 21,000 will be allowed in Wembley this afternoon, this year’s cup final having been designated as a pilot event for the plan to get big crowds back to the biggest events this summer. Both clubs have been allocated 6,250 tickets for their supporters, while the remainder of the tickets go to key workers and local residents, plus stadium and FA folk. And here comes everyone, down Wembley Way. Each and every one of them has been missed. Lowry couldn’t have painted it any better.
OK, maybe he would have. But you get the general point.
Preamble
There have been 139 FA Cup finals so far. Chelsea have contested 14 of them, winning eight. The last time they lifted the trophy was three years ago; the previous occasion at which they finished runners-up was August just gone. This will be their fourth appearance in the final in the last five years. There’s no real need to relive their oft-told story yet again, though if the short-term memory isn’t what it was, or you’re simply always jonesing for Pensioner-related nostalgia, this retro MBM of their first-ever win in 1970, a gloriously entertaining stramash with their old pals Leeds United, will hopefully slake your thirst.
Leicester City, by comparison, hold a truly unenviable record: the most unsuccessful FA Cup finalists of them all. They’re reached the Wembley showpiece on four occasions – 1949, 1961, 1963 and 1969 – and have lost every single one. The only other clubs to have reached multiple finals without recording a victory in the tournament’s 150-year history are Queen’s Park, Birmingham City, Crystal Palace and Watford, and all of those have only lost two. The Foxes really need to shake this monkey off their back.
To be fair to Leicester, they’ve been underdogs in three of their four finals. In 1949, they were battling relegation to the old Third Division when they faced Stan Cullis’s Wolverhampton Wanderers, and were without their injured star playmaker Don Revie. Nevertheless, they put up a good fight in a 3-1 defeat that could have ended differently had their striker Ken Chisholm’s effort from a tight angle not been flagged marginally offside at 2-1.
In 1961, they ran out of luck after 18 minutes when right-back Len Chalmers injured his right leg in a tackle with Les Allen of the newly crowned English champions Tottenham Hotspur. Leicester had been good value up until then, with Spurs uncharacteristically nervous, but with Chalmers reduced to hobbling uselessly on the left wing, defeat was almost inevitable. Spurs secured the double with an uncharacteristically workmanlike 2-0 win.
The big missed opportunity came in 1963. Leicester had come close to the title, their Ice Kings melting away along with the end of the Big Freeze, but were still favourites for the cup against a Manchester United side that had seriously flirted with relegation. However they failed to turn up, allowing a swaggering Denis Law to run the show, and United won their first trophy since the Munich tragedy.
And then there was 1969, an affair not wholly dissimilar to their defeat 20 years earlier. Manchester City, champions the year before, were expected to win; Leicester were again battling relegation, this time from the First. Manchester City did the business as expected, Neil Young scoring the only goal past a young Peter Shilton, but Leicester pushed them hard. “We made the chances but couldn’t get the ball in the net,” sighed their manager Frank O’Farrell afterwards. “Andy Lochhead might have scored four goals any other time. But we will not have any time for disappointment. We now have to fight to stay in the First Division.” They couldn’t manage it. Another bittersweet stroll down Wembley Way.
So here we are, FA Cup final number 140. Can Chelsea win their seventh FA Cup since the turn of the millennium? Or will Leicester finally break their duck at the fifth time of asking? Thomas Tuchel and Brendan Rodgers are both bringing entertaining sides to the party, so here’s to the first seven-goal FA Cup final thriller since Blackpool and Bolton put on the Matthews Final. We’re more than due another, right? OK, then: Chelsea, Leicester, you know what to do. Be about your business! Entertain the nation! It’s on!
Kick-off: 5.15pm BST.
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