Hazard’s penalty wins the FA Cup for Chelsea
Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0
Eden Hazard’s penalty won the FA Cup for Chelsea.
Hazard casually slotted past keeper David De Gea after being brought down in the area by Phil Jones midway through the first half at Wembley.
It meant the Blues ended a troubled season with a trophy in what could be Antonio Conte’s final game in charge – Chelsea are widely tipped to replace the Italian this summer.
As expected, Conte, whose team were beaten by Arsenal in last year’s final, selected Thibaut Courtois despite Willy Caballero having been in goal for previous cup ties.
And Courtois produced two crucial second-half saves as Chelsea absorbed pressure from a Manchester United side who were much improved after the interval.
United thought they had equalised when Alexis Sanchez netted after Courtois had superbly parried Jones’ header from Marcus Rashford’s right-wing free-kick, but the goal was disallowed because the Chilean was marginally offside.
And Courtois also denied Rashford after the United forward had been put through by Jesse Lingard.
But United’s best chance of an equaliser fell to Paul Pogba, who headed wide from eight yards out when found unmarked by Anthony Martial’s corner eight minutes from time.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Rudiger, Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Alonso, Hazard (Willian 90), Giroud (Morata 89).
Subs not used: Caballero, Zappacosta, Chalobah, Barkley, Pedro.
19/05/2018 @ 7:46 pm
Chelsea can now heave a sigh of relief after a series of dismal displays that saw them miss out on top four finish that would have guaranteed them outright champions league qualification. At least they didn’t end the season trophyless. That will be a consolation for them. Thank you Hazard for that decisive penalty you took. Well done to the entire team for holding your nerve up to the end of the game. That was a commendable display. Congratulations once more, and that includes the Coach.