Daily Times

Leicester City denied Chelsea their 9^th FA Cup win. The foxes scored the only goal of the game in the second half of the cup final.

Youri scored a worldie of a goal in 63rd minutes to put his side in the lead, which proved to be enough to land the trophy. Thankfully 20 thousand spectators were able to feast on the screamer. It was the maximum number of spectators allowed in for a game after the pandemic started.

The game started blandly as both the teams were cautious and afraid of making the firsts move. There were a few chances here there but no clear-cut goal scoring was created by either side. Leicester City came out for the second half and were on the front foot from the get-go. Thomas Tuchel’s side was slow to respond to the Foxes pressure which kept on building during the second half.

Chelsea reacted well after conceding the goal and started mounting pressure after Tuchel made changes to his side and brought on Ben Chilwell, Christian Pulisic, Calum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz, and Olivier Giroud.  Mason mount thought he had scored for the blues but his shot was saved by the brilliant goalkeeping of Schmeichel. Ben Chilwell came close to equalizing for Chelsea when he met a Thiago Silva’s cross into the box but his goal-bound effort was saved by Kasper Schmeichel. Adding to the agony of the left-back, his goal scored in the 89^th minute was ruled out by Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

“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 said while talking to the press in his post-match interview.

“It feels really good, it’s amazing, I’m really glad to score the goal to help the team to win the game. It was a really tight game and to score in the final but what a goal that was. So I’m really happy for the team and the fans,” Tielemans told BBC as his captain dragged him away from the interview for the trophy celebrations.

The owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha was brought onto the pitch by the captain and was seen hugging the players and the coach in the post-match celebrations on the pitch. Leicester City’s boss thanked the owners of the club for their countless support during his tenure. Aiyawatt has been an ever-present figure in the stadiums since his father’s helicopter crashed over the stadium 2 years ago.

During the post-match celebrations, Hamza Choudhry and Wesley Fofana were seen holding Palestine’s flag to show their solidarity with the people who have been suffering the occupation at the hands of Israelis.

For Rodgers, it was the first trophy in English football after seven in Scotland with Celtic and the records show that he has won each of his seven finals as a manager, including the Championship play-off with Swansea in 2011. His players threw him into the air during the delirious post-match scenes and he will now want to close out a stunning season with a Champions League finish. Next up for his team is Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday – another seismic game.

Brendan Rodgers’ side who got promoted to the Premier League in the 14/15 season and went on to win the premiership in the very next season under Claudio Ranieri has never looked back ever since. The foxes are on an upwards trajectory ever since coming back to the top tier of English football.

Only sky is the limit for the inspiring Leicester City side that has been rising to new heights in English football against all odds and tells us that why the big six should be scared.