2021 FA Cup Final: Leicester City 1-0 Chelsea

The footage

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2021

The match report

The 2021 FA Cup final was the first since the pandemic began to be played in front of a crowd, and the crowd was the point. The Football Association announced in April that a Wembley semi-final and the final itself would form part of the government's science-led Events Research Programme, a set of pilot events designed to gather evidence on how mass gatherings could safely resume. The build-up ran through the numbers: 4,000 people for the semi-final, 8,000 for the EFL Cup final, and then the FA Cup final.[3][4]

Every person who came through the turnstiles had to produce evidence of a negative lateral flow test taken shortly before the match. Researchers gathered data on crowd movement, ventilation and behaviour. Leicester City won their first FA Cup inside what was, formally, a scientific study.[3][7]

Leicester had lost four FA Cup finals before this one and had not reached one in 52 years. They were the last English league champions never to have won the competition. Brendan Rodgers lost Jonny Evans to injury after 34 minutes and replaced a centre-back with the winger Marc Albrighton, reorganising his defence for the remaining hour of the biggest match in the club's history.[4][6]

The first half produced no shots on target from either side and a good deal of rain. The match turned on a single moment just after the hour, when Youri Tielemans took the ball outside the Chelsea area and drove it into the top-left corner past Kepa Arrizabalaga. The FA's own report described the strike as fizzing beautifully from range. Tielemans became the first Leicester player to score in an FA Cup final since Ken Keyworth in 1963.[1][5]

Chelsea threw substitutes at it. Kasper Schmeichel made the save Rodgers later named as decisive. Then, in the final minute, Ben Chilwell turned the ball over the line and Chelsea celebrated. Chilwell had come through the Leicester academy and left for Chelsea the previous summer. VAR ruled him offside in the build-up and the goal was struck off.[1][4]

It was Leicester City's first FA Cup, won at the fifth attempt, and it completed a set for a club that had already produced the least likely league title in the competition's history five years earlier. Wes Morgan, who lifted that trophy in 2016, came off the bench with eight minutes left to be on the pitch for this one.[4][8]

For Chelsea it was a second consecutive FA Cup final defeat after losing to Arsenal the previous year. They would lose a third in a row to Liverpool the following May, a record no club had previously set. The BBC's coverage of this one drew 9.1 million viewers, the most-watched football match in Britain that season.[4][5]

How the match unfolded

1. 34'Jonny Evans, one of Leicester's back three, goes off injured. Brendan Rodgers replaces a centre-back with a winger, Marc Albrighton, and reshapes his defence for the remaining hour of a cup final.[4][6]
2. 45'Half-time, goalless, and neither side has managed a shot on target.[4][5]
3. 63'Youri Tielemans collects the ball outside the Chelsea area and drives it into the top-left corner past Kepa Arrizabalaga. The only goal of the match.[1][4]
4. 68'Thomas Tuchel makes a double change, Ben Chilwell and Christian Pulisic on for Marcos Alonso and Hakim Ziyech. Chilwell, a former Leicester player, is about to become the central figure in the finish.[4][1]
5. 82'Wes Morgan, who captained Leicester to the 2016 league title, comes off the bench to see out the club's first FA Cup.[4]
6. 89'Kasper Schmeichel makes the save Rodgers would single out afterwards as the moment that won it.[1]
7. 90'Chilwell turns the ball in and Chelsea believe they have equalised in the last minute. VAR rules him offside in the build-up. The goal is struck off and Leicester City have won the FA Cup for the first time.[1][4]

Match facts

Date

Saturday 15 May 2021

Venue

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance

20,000The gate figure. The FA's own advance announcement in April said the final would host 21,000, and several outlets reported 21,000 on the day. Both numbers are in print: 21,000 was the sanctioned pilot capacity, 20,000 the recorded attendance. It was the largest crowd at any UK football ground since the pandemic began.[1][5][3]

Referee

Michael Oliver (Durham FA)[2][4]

Scorers

Youri Tielemans 63'[1][4]

Competition

2020-21 FA Cup

Where they played

Both sides as they lined up. Choose any player to read what they did in this final.

Select a shirt for that player's note.

Route to the final

Line-ups

Trivia and detail

• Sian Massey-Ellis became the first female match official involved in an FA Cup final, as assistant VAR alongside Chris Kavanagh.[2]
• Michael Oliver, Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett were working their second FA Cup final together, having officiated the 2018 final as a unit.[2]
• The attendance was the largest at any UK football ground since the start of the pandemic. It was surpassed within weeks by the Euro 2020 matches at the same stadium.[5][4]
• Ben Chilwell, whose disallowed goal would have forced extra time, came through the Leicester academy and had left for Chelsea the previous summer.[1][4]
• Leicester City were the last English league champions never to have won the FA Cup. This final removed the last such name from the list.[4]
• Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana displayed a Palestinian flag during the trophy celebrations. The FA took no punitive action.[4]
• The two clubs met again at Stamford Bridge three days later in the league, an unusually short turnaround caused by the final being staged before the Premier League season had finished.[4]
• Leicester had not reached an FA Cup final for 52 years before this one, having lost in 1969, and had lost all four of their previous finals.[4][1]

How well do you know the 2021 final?

Five questions. Every answer is sourced from the material on this page.

1. Who scored the only goal of the 2021 FA Cup final?

   Youri TielemansJamie VardyKelechi IheanachoMarc Albrighton
   Answer

   Youri Tielemans. A strike from distance into the top-left corner past Kepa Arrizabalaga, in the 63rd minute.[1]

2. Before this final, how long had Leicester City gone without reaching one?

   52 years23 years11 yearsLeicester had never reached one
   Answer

   52 years. Leicester had lost four finals and had not appeared in one since 1969.[4][5]

3. What did every spectator have to produce to get through the turnstiles?

   Evidence of a negative lateral flow testA vaccine certificateA membership cardNothing beyond a ticket
   Answer

   Evidence of a negative lateral flow test. The final was staged as a pilot event under the Events Research Programme, and the crowd was part of the study.[3]

4. Which official was described by the FA as the first female match official to be involved in an FA Cup final?

   Sian Massey-EllisRebecca WelchMichael OliverStuart Attwell
   Answer

   Sian Massey-Ellis. She was appointed assistant VAR, announced by the FA on 20 April 2021, nearly a month before the final.[2]

5. Who was the last Leicester player to score in an FA Cup final before Tielemans?

   Ken KeyworthGary LinekerArthur ChandlerNobody had
   Answer

   Ken Keyworth. Keyworth scored in the 1963 final, which Leicester also lost.[1]

What is not settled

Honesty matters more than tidiness. These details are contested or unrecorded, and we have not guessed at them:

• Attendance is genuinely contested. The FA's advance announcement said 21,000; its own match report, ESPN and Wikipedia record 20,000. We publish 20,000 as the gate figure and document 21,000 as the announced pilot capacity.
• The exact minute of Kasper Schmeichel's decisive save is not established. It is placed late in the match on the basis of Rodgers' post-match comments and should be read as approximate.
• The lateral flow testing window is reported variously as 24 and 48 hours before the match. Neither figure was confirmed against a primary government document.
• Cesar Azpilicueta's substitution is given as 75 minutes by Wikipedia and 76 by Sky Sports.
• No footage has been verified for this final yet, so the television shows no signal rather than an unchecked embed.

How we know

Every claim on this page is tied to a numbered source below. These are the contemporary records behind it, each one fetched and matched word for word before publication rather than taken on trust:

• The FA official match report, 15 May 2021 · The Football Association
• The FA, 20 April 2021, match officials announcement · The Football Association
• The FA, 4 April 2021, Events Research Programme announcement · The Football Association

Where a primary record and a modern account disagree, we show both rather than choosing the tidier number.

Sources

1. Youri Tielemans stunner fires Leicester City to maiden Emirates FA Cup crown · The Football Association
2. Michael Oliver to referee 2021 Emirates FA Cup Final · The Football Association
3. The Emirates FA Cup Final and one semi-final at Wembley will host crowds as part of pilot events · The Football Association
4. 2021 FA Cup final · Wikipedia
5. Chelsea 0-1 Leicester, game analysis · ESPN
6. Starting line-ups, Chelsea v Leicester · Sky Sports
7. At Britain's Wembley Stadium, the venerable FA Cup is also a science study for post-pandemic crowds · The Washington Post
8. Henry Winter: The 2021 FA Cup Final Was All About The Leicester Family · Leicester City FC

Elsewhere in the encyclopedia

Other finals involving these clubs

• 2009 Chelsea: Chelsea 2-1 Everton
• 2010 Chelsea: Chelsea 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2012 Chelsea: Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 2017 Chelsea: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea
• 2018 Chelsea: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
• 2020 Chelsea: Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea

Other finals at Wembley Stadium

• 2008 Cardiff City 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2009 Chelsea 2-1 Everton
• 2010 Chelsea 1-0 Portsmouth
• 2011 Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City
• 2012 Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
• 2013 Wigan Athletic 1-0 Manchester City

Elsewhere on WhatChan