Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel congratulates his players after qualifying for the FA Cup final on April 17, 2022 at WembleyBen Stansall
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Five days after losing their continental crown to Real Madrid in the Champions League, Chelsea consoled themselves somewhat by realistically qualifying for the FA Cup final on Sunday against Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace (2- 0).
Long laborious offensively, Thomas Tuchel’s men were able to be patient and realistic by scoring on their first two real chances.
On May 14, they will face Liverpool, winners of the other, much more exciting semi-final on Saturday, against Manchester City (3-2), in a remake of the League Cup final which saw the Reds win on penalties.
After coming so close to the feat at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, having led 3-0, to finally be eliminated (1-3, 3-2), the reaction of Chelsea was expected in this London derby.
Despite the 120 minutes of play in Spain, Thomas Tuchel had only made three changes in his starting lineup compared to the one who started against Real, notably leaving Thiago Silva and N’Golo Kanté on the bench.
Wary of the speed of the Eagles attackers, despite their only 13th place in the league, Tuchel had placed Reece James in a right stopper position, shifting Cesar Azpilicueta in his place, as a piston.
“We had to try to control their counter-attacks even before they were triggered, by closing the spaces. We were very disciplined with the ball, they were very disciplined without, which perhaps did not give the match the most exciting thing to see,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitted after the game.
Deprived of their great midfielder, Conor Gallagher, under contract with Chelsea and unable to play against them due to a clause in the loan agreement, Palace had clearly not come to make the game, betting on the cons.
– Chelsea finally find the opening –
The Blues, who played in yellow, had heavy legs in the first period and the match remained very far from the peaks reached the day before by Liverpool-Manchester City (3-2).
The few chills during the first hour mostly came from set pieces.
Defender Cheikhou Kouyaté thus saw his recovery be nicely repelled by Edouard Mendy on his right (36th) and a header from a corner pass just wide (60th).
Better preparing their offensives by spinning the ball in the second half, Chelsea ended up finding the opening on a center from Kai Havertz badly repelled by the defense and taken over victoriously by Loftus-Cheek (1-0, 65th).
Ten minutes later, served with a line by Timo Werner at the entrance to the surface, Mason Mount infiltrated and closely deceived Jack Butland (2-0, 76th).
“We tried to hinder them and we succeeded in the first half, but in the end they were too strong for us,” admitted Vieira at the end of the match.
At the very end of the game, Romelu Lukaku, who entered the game and decidedly unlucky, hit the post (90th), but Chelsea offered themselves a chance to win a second trophy this season after the FIFA Club World Cup this winter.
Against the Reds, however, it will be necessary to raise the level of play by one or two notches to have a real chance and avoid losing a third FA Cup final in a row, after that against Arsenal (2-1) in 2020 and Leicester (1-0) last year.
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