In their fifth attempt, Leicester City won their first-ever FA Cup title against Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Leicester won a 0-1 victory over Chelsea, contrary to our prediction, after a 63rd-minute goal from Youri Tielemans on Saturday.
The midfielder produced a fantastic goal in the second half to earn Leicester a historic victory.
After four failed attempts, Leicester’s fifth time in the FA Cup finals produced their first title win. So, historically, Leicester City won their first-ever FA Cup.
This novel title also means Leicester head coach Brendan Rodgers has earned his first ever major trophy in English football.
The win was even more historic because Leicester won in front of a crowd of 20,000 people.
The spectators at Wembley on Saturday made for the largest attendance at a UK football ground since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s an amazing feeling, I wasn’t aware before I came to Leicester that they’d never won the FA Cup, they’d lost in four finals previous so to be able to give that to the owners and the fans, so special,” Rodgers exclaimed.
“So proud, the board players staff, supporters, an amazing day for the city, so proud for everyone.”
Chelsea 0 – 1 Leicester City
The game’s first half was slow but, in the second half, after 63 minutes, Tielemans’ long-range effort enlivened it.
“It feels really good, it’s amazing, I’m really glad to score the goal to help the team to win the game,” Tielemans said.
“It was a really tight game and to score in the final but what a goal that was,” he said. “So, I’m really happy for the team and for the fans.”
The First Half
It was a very cagey start to the match. The first real chance came after 24 minutes when Mason Mount struck outside of the area. But the ball deflected wide.
Moments later, Chelsea had another opportunity to open the scoring. But Timo Werner couldn’t pass to Cesar Azpilicueta, who was free for a tap-in.
Leicester suffered a blow just after the half-hour mark when Jonny Evans suffered an injury, and Marc Albrighton replaced him.
After this, Leicester had a good chance to score when Tielemans passed to Jamie Vardy, who headed wide, however.
The first half thus ended without a single attempt on target from both sides.
The Second Half
Tielemans’ goal arrived just over the hour mark.
Coming off the bench, Ben Chilwell after goal came close to an equaliser after 77 minutes. However, a Schmeichel save denied his header.
Schmeichel made an even better stop when there were four minutes remaining in the match. He denied Mount’s half-volley from inside the box.
Then, Chilwell thought he had grabbed late equaliser against his former club. He celebrated vigorously but the ball was offside and the goal didn’t count.
“Youri Tielemans’ goal was like an old school FA Cup winning goal but also Kasper Schmeichel’s save, those are the special moments you need in games. Overall we were the better team, super aggressive, pressed well, we were always a threat, with the ball,” Rodgers said later.
Watch these key moments here!
