FA Cup final: How Leicester trapped Chelsea to win the trophy

On the fifth time of asking, Leicester City won an FA Cup final, as Brendan Rodgers overcame Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea to lift the prestigious domestic cup for the first time in Foxes history.

It was perhaps the perfect final in many respects; Youri Tielemans’ goal will go down as one of the all-time great FA Cup final strikes, some world-class goalkeeping from Kasper Schmeichel, and even some pivotal – yet correct – usage of VAR to rule out an offside goal in the last few minutes of the game. In those moments, it didn’t feel perfect, I prefer the description of stressful, nauseating and nerve-wracking, but it’s was those emotions that made the full-time whilst even sweeter.

Tactically, it was a really interesting fixture. Considering the flexibility of Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City side this season, that was always going to be a crucial component of the tie, and since taking the reigns from Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel has clearly demonstrated his tactical nous in the English system – after proving his worth across multiple different competitors in Europe.

Leicester City’s setup was fairly expected – the, almost dependable, 3-4-1-2 structure remained intact from the Foxes previous game. Ayoze Pérez has played the number 10 role much more effectively than James Maddison has in recent matches (especially in the 3-4-1-2), and Luke Thomas deservedly maintained his starting spot from the Manchester United game. Aside from that, full strength from Rodgers.