Leicester City 1-0 Chelsea || FA Cup Final || the-gorilla Review

This morning, I wrote about my own experience going to Wembley so to see 12,500 fans and 9,500 "others" being able to watch the FA Cup final felt more significant than if the stadium had been full.

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The cat-calls, the booing and the ironic cheers that only a live crowd could create - I've got nothing against Ben Chilwell but hearing him get booed was like music to my ears.

The match itself was fairly cagey and defences were certainly on top. Reece James made a surprise move to centre back to cover Jamie Vardy, which he did exceptionally well and I think Kelechi Iheanacho is still in Rudiger's pocket.

At the other end, Evans and Soyuncu seemed a bit too deep leaving too much room between them and the midfield, allowing Werner, Mount and Ziyech too much space which they failed to capitalise on. Evans' injury on the half hour and the subsequent substitution seemed to fill that gap, presumably because they had been sitting deep to compensate for Evans' injury.

The 1st half saw lots of endeavour, plenty of late tackles and yellow cards but not a single shot on target. Not the best game to watch but it didn't matter. There was a crowd, making real crowd noises.

It took 53 minutes for the 1st shot on target, a weak Alonso header straight into Schmeichel's arms.

10 minutes later, it was Leicester's turn for their only shot on target all match. And what a shot it was. An absolute screamer from 30 yards by Youri Tielemans into the top corner. He was without a doubt the man of the match and gave Kepa absolutely no chance.

It was time for Tuchel to tinker. Pulisic and Chilwell the first to come on then Havertz and Hudson-Odoi. All of which livened things up. Then Giroud, signalling a more direct approach. Chelsea had upped the tempo, upped the pressure and you sensed it would be a long 15 minutes for Leicester. Schmeichel was suddenly busy - forced into a diving save from a Chilwell header and then an incredible save to keep out Mason Mount. It was the kind of goalkeeping you need to win a cup final.

But in the 90th minute, Leicester hearts were broken. Albrighton switched off, and Thiago Silva played it in behind him into the run of Chilwell. He played it towards goal and Soyuncu's clearance rebounded off Morgan and into the Leicester goal. Cruel on Morgan, cruel on Leicester, the Chelsea fans went wild.

But as we know, VAR look at everything. They look for that excessive lockdown hair that should've been cut and you know the rest...

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My oh my. It was Leicester's turn to go wild again and Chelsea's turn to feel hard done by. We can debate VAR again but I'm not going to here.

Leicester holding on to win the FA Cup for the 1st time in their history and for me at least, the magic of the FA Cup still remains.

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👇 Match Highlights from The Emirates FA Cup YouTube Channel

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