BEVERLY HILLS, May 15, (THEWILL) – Leicester City’s central midfielder Youri Tielemens was the man of the moment for the Foxes in their English FA Cup final as he scored a stunning winner to help them to victory, their first FA Cup title since 1969. His second-half goal was nearly cancelled by some unbelievable late VAR drama but Leicester held on to take the title.
In front of a live crowd of over 20,000 fans at Wembley, Kelechi Iheanacho and his teammates were buoyed on by their supporters, who were on hand to egg their team on to make history as football also made tentative steps towards normalcy with the trialling on in-person crowds at stadia.
As was expected of two grounded coaches, in Brendan Rodgers of Leicester and Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea, the first half was a high-intensity affair. Both sides were well-matched and it was entertainment content for the the fans inside Wembley who contributed as they could by chants of support.
However, as early as the half hour mark, Leicester City had to adjust their game plan after Jonny Evans was forced off through injury. Marc Albrighton was introduced in place of the Northern Irishman. The changed defense held steady against a run of Chelsea attacks as Leicester also tried to penetrate the compact Chelsea defense without success.
In the second period, Tielemens produced a goal worthy of winning any final. He turned up the noise in the stadium three minutes past the hour mark as his pile driver from 25 yards out found the top corner of the net, giving Kepa Arrizabalaga, in Chelsea’s goal, no chance.
Leicester City fans went delirious and were dreaming of the title already because of how well the team stayed organised in all three departments. Rodgers substituted Iheanacho four minutes after, as he looked out of pace and had endured a muted game.
Accordingly, Tuchel responded to Chelsea going behind with tactical changes. He brought on Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic immediately after the Iheanacho substitution.
One of the subs appeared to have made the difference, when Chilwell bundled home a dramatic equaliser at the very death of the game. But, the video assistant referee (VAR) picked out a controversial offside to overturn the goal.
The late drama aside and with the supporters riotous in excitement, Leicester City held firm to secure a truly historic achievement for the club allowing Iheanacho and the rest of the Leicester crew the glorious triumph over Chelsea.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
