Defeating Man Utd, Chelsea won the FA Cup 2017-2018 season
Eden Hazard's only penalty goal helped the London team win 1-0 despite being dominated for most of the final match on the evening of May 19 at Wembley Stadium.
Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd Goal: Hazard 22' penalty |
The spirit of the blue shirt players is also more or less affected by the fact that coach Antonio Conte is likely to leave this summer.
Chelsea actually started the game as underdogs with five deep-lying midfielders, including the good tacklers and blockers N'Golo Kante, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Marcos Alonso, Victor Moses and Cesc Fabregas. Conte played Olivier Giroud as a striker and Eden Hazard as an attacking midfielder.
On Man Utd's side, Romelu Lukaku did not start due to injury, so Marcus Rashford played as a striker. The two wingers were Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard, and the center was Paul Pogba.
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Hazard's successful penalty kick was the decisive moment in the match. Photo:AFP. |
The match was balanced in the opening minutes as both teams tried to create breakthroughs with attacks from the wings. The first dangerous move was created by an individual effort from Eden Hazard when he dribbled past Phil Jones and shot into the near corner but David De Gea used his foot to block the ball.
After nearly 20 minutes, Man Utd began to take the initiative in midfield. However, while struggling to find a way into the opponent's goal, Jose Mourinho's students fell into a counter-attack trap. After Gary Cahill's clearance, the ball came to Hazard's position. The Belgian midfielder showed his intelligence with a long pass that made Jones miss and then used his speed to get past the Man Utd defender.
Unable to catch up with his opponent, Jones leaned over to block Hazard from finishing and was awarded a penalty. On the 11m mark, Hazard fooled De Gea to open the score.
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Pogba and his teammates' efforts did not yield results. Photo:Reuters. |
With the lead, Chelsea lowered their formation even more, making it difficult for Man Utd to attack despite having a lot of possession. The "Red Devils"'s crosses were ineffective.
Pogba headed over the bar and a shot from distance went wide. Jones had a chance to redeem himself late in the first half but his close-range header went wide.
Despite playing together for a long time, Man Utd's attacking players still have situations where they don't understand each other or lack trust in each other. Between Pogba, the capable player and the creative role in midfield, Sanchez and Rashford have had a few times where they lacked coordination even when not under pressure.
This could be seen in the counter-attack situation at the end of the first half when Pogba passed the ball to Rashford but instead of passing it back to his teammate, the 19-year-old striker decided to finish with his left foot in an unfavorable position.
Another incident in the second half saw Sanchez pass to Pogba even though the French midfielder had moved when he saw Bakayoko intending to intercept the pass.
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Chelsea won the FA Cup after a disappointing season in the Premier League. Photo:Reuters. |
Man Utd had many set pieces in this match, but could not take advantage of them. One of them was a Rasford kick, which created an opportunity for Jones to head in. After being pushed out by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Sanchez rushed in to score the rebound into the Chelsea net but was ruled offside.
A few minutes later, Chelsea had a chance to finish off their opponents. Alonso faced De Gea when receiving a pass from Kante but was indecisive. Instead of shooting with his strong left foot, the Spaniard let the ball drift to his right and could not beat De Gea with a weak shot. In the situation that followed, Young used his hand to block Alonso's pass but referee Michael Oliver overlooked this error by the Man Utd defender.
Man Utd came very close to the opponent's net when Rashford faced but could not beat Courtois. Chelsea's defense forgot Man Utd's highest player, allowing him to receive Lingard's through ball. However, Rashford's chip hit Courtois and went wide. In a match where caution was highly valued by both teams, rare opportunities like this should have been taken.
Shortly after that miss, Rashford had to leave the field to make way for Lukaku. Anthony Martial also joined in. But Man Utd could not escape the deadlock. Pogba missed a good chance when he headed wide despite being unmarked right in front of goal.
Martial was locked down by Cesar Azpilicueta, Lukaku failed to make an impact and Sanchez continued to disappoint. Defending solidly, Chelsea defended Hazard's first-half effort and brought another FA Cup to the trophy room.
A large number of Man Utd fans were present at Wembley Stadium and almost turned this stadium into a second Old Trafford, but they could not leave with joy.
