After Chelsea came second in the FA Cup final last year, the history of 11 years ago repeated itself. Chelsea was crowned FA Cup Champions for the first time in seven years and the scoreline was a repeat of the 2007 FA Cup final, which was also held at the same venue.
The start favoured the Blues, as Eden Hazard forced a fantastic reflex save from David de Gea. There were penalty shouts for both teams, but it only took a few more minutes for a penalty to be given.
A defence-splitting pass had Hazard one on one with the keeper. Phil Jones caught up with him but conceded the penalty and earned himself a yellow card. Hazard made no mistake and casually sent De Gea the wrong way.
Despite Manchester United conceding the opening goal, they played better than Chelsea for the remainder of the half, with Paul Pogba narrowly missing to Thibaut Courtois’ right, and the ball falling in front of Marcus Rashford on the stroke of half-time. Fortunately for the Pensioners, they didn’t capitalise, or else Antonio Conte’s half-time talk would have been very different.
Statistically Manchester United were dominant, having two-thirds of the possession. Chelsea had only four shots on goal to Manchester United’s seven, but the latter couldn’t fire a single shot on target. Their finishing did not get much better.
(Ian Kingston / AFP / Getty Images)
The Red Devils were dominant in the second half and created chances, but the Manchester United attackers made little of them. When the ball finally did go into the back of the net for the Red Devils, it was disallowed, as Alexis Sanchez was offside.
No sooner had the goal been disallowed, Chelsea caught the United defence napping. Marcos Alonso was one on one with the keeper, but instead of lashing it in, he took a touch, and his shot was comfortably saved by De Gea.
In a matter of seconds down the other end Rashford had a golden opportunity to equalise, only to be denied by Courtois. No sooner had that chance gone begging, Rashford and Jesse Lingard were taken off due to poor performances in front of goal and were replaced by Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial.
Instead it was the Manchester United midfielders who were guilty of spurning opportunities, with Paul Pogba, unmarked in the penalty box, heading wide of the post. The same occurred for former Chelsea player Nemanja Matic, who couldn’t keep his header down after a pinpoint delivery from Antonio Valencia.
Two minutes later, Jose Mourinho looked at his watch. He knew it was all over. His former club had won the FA Cup final. The score was 1-0.
Andrew
Roar Guru
Probably the worst FA Cup final since the 2007 Man Utd - Chelsea one.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
The FFA Cup final was much better to watch.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Nothing lucky about Chelsea.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
Absolutely spot on.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I thought it was one of the worst FA Cup finals in years.
Brian
Guest
It was disappointing but then your talking about Chelsea and a Mourinho led Man Utd. The worst two teams to watch from the top 6.
Buddy
Guest
I have been arguing this point for a few years. My trips to the UK mix up different levels of football ranging from non league to epl and I consistently find much better valuein the lower leagues. My judgement is a mixture of cost vs atmosphere, comfort and the game itself and EPL often does not cut iton many of those levels. Exciting and entertaining finals in any cup competition are few and far between often as there is so much riding on the game. What I found disturbing at the FA Cup final was the 2 giant banners laid out before the game depicting Mourinho and Conte. That tells me that the controlling body have the game upside down. It should be about the players and the history, maybe past encounters but never about the managers. The only thing that made me smile was the tribute to Ray Wilkins who made enormous contributions as a player to both clubs and was part of the coaching staff at Chelsea for a while too.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Years ago, watching the FA Cup was something I’d pencil in the diary every year as an event not to be missed. Now it’s an optional sporting event. I mistakenly thought that the two teams on the weekend might put on a show but it was as dull as dishwater water. For all the talent in the pitch, the coaches contrived a pretty dull spectacle. And people complain about the A-league which has just a fraction of the talent but can still put on some entertaining stuff.
Kangajets
Guest
After watching this dross. How can anyone say the premier league is better now then 20-30 years ago These teams are skilled but just dull robotic droids ... Mind numbingly dull