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Calum McFarlane's reaction
‘Relief’ is the correct word. We were confident going into the game – we had a really good three days leading into it – but you never know.
I did the job for a week in January so I knew what I was stepping into. It’s actually been easier this time because I have a relationship with the players, I’ve worked with them for three or four months now, and I had a feel for what they needed psychologically. It’s been intense but not as crazy as the last time.
We knew Leeds were at their most dangerous when we had deep possession, because they go man for man, so we wanted to negate that by going longer. Create a bit of fear in them, because we’ve got athletes in our top line, and then once they dropped we got space to play.
I thought Enzo’s positioning was brilliant, the way he pulled wider to pin the right-winger, so we had a spare man in the build-up and we took control.
Ed Aarons
What must Liam Rosenior have made of this? After being sacked as Chelsea’s head coach on Wednesday, his former players showed all the commitment that was missing during his four months in charge to battle their way past Leeds courtesy of a winning goal from – surprise, surprise – Enzo Fernández.
Only eight years ago, Rosenior’s interim replacement Calum McFarlane was an assistant coach for Isthmian League side Whyteleafe. But even if he does not yet own a pro licence that means his second spell in charge of Chelsea this season will be limited to only 12 weeks, McFarlane has now become the first English manager since a certain Frank Lampard to reach an FA Cup final, where they will face treble-chasing Manchester City next month.
The irony that it was Fernández – after being dropped for two matches by Rosenior for fluttering his eyelids at Real Madrid during last international break – that came up with the decisive goal after 23 minutes was surely not lost on his predecessor.
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea beat Manchester City three times in six weeks in 2021, culminating in the Champions League final in Oporto. Since then their record against City is desperate: P13 W0 D3 L10. The FA Cup final would be a good time to fix that.
Robert Sanchez’s reaction
The boys reacted exactly as they should have. We tried to keep everything very positive in training and it was a chance to reach another final.
I always try to do my job. I’m very happy with the season I’ve had and now the important thing is to try to finish on a high.
The fans deserve moments like this. It’s good to give a little bit back after a tough period.
Full time: Chelsea 1-0 Leeds
Chelsea are into yet another FA Cup final, their 17th overall and the 13th in the last 30 years, after a hard-fought win at Wembley. They dominated the first half, when Enzo Fernandez headed them in front, and held firm in the second to set up a heavyweight final against Manchester City.
Calum McFarlane, who won a tactical battle with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad in January, will meet him again in three weeks’ time.
90+9 min Lucas Perri comes forward for an Ampadu long throw. Sanchez flaps it away and that’s it!
90+8 min: Chelsea substitution Liam Delap replaces the excellent Joao Pedro. Chelsea are around 45 seconds away from another FA Cup final.
90+5 min Enzo fouls Gnonto 40 yards from goal. Longstaff teases the free-kick over the defence, Calvert-Lewin comes round the back but can’t quite reach the ball and it bounces behind for a goalkick.
90+4 min Pedro Neto pulls the shirt of Bogle, who responds by swinging an arm. Neto goes down holding his face and both players are booked.
90+2 min A long ball forward is won in the air by Tosin ahead of Calvert-Lewin. He and Chalobah have dealt with Calvert-Lewin pretty well.
90+1 min Caicedo is back on and looks okay.
90 min Caicedo limps to the touchline. I think he wants to come back on. There will be eight minutes of added time.
89 min Caicedo is in serious pain after that foul. It looked like a clash of knees as Caicedo turned cleverly away from Longstaff.
88 min Caicedo turns smartly in his own half and is fouled by Longstaff. Leeds cannot afford these stoppages.
86 min: Leeds substitution Sean Longstaff replaces Brenden Aaronson.
85 min Nmecha overruns the ball, wins it on the stretch but then follows through into Caicedo’s ankle. He’s booked.
83 min Nmecha dances between two Chelsea players and gives the ball to Stach, who shoots over from 25 yards. Worth a try when you have a sweet spot on your right foot as Stach does.
80 min Chelsea have kept Leeds at arms’ length in the last 10-15 minutes. Games change in a split second, but right now an equaliser doesn’t look especially likely.
79 min “They may never have met in an FA Cup Final, but there’s still something depressingly ’Not The Magic Of The Cup’ about potentially seeing City and Chelsea,” writes Matt Dony. “The team who brought billionaire-owners-buying-the-title to the masses, vs the team who perfected it. Beautiful stuff. Can they both lose? (Yes, from a bitter Liverpool fan.)”
78 min Ampadu joins him in the book for a trip on Pedro Neto. He’s been really good today, Neto.
78 min Palmer is booked for delaying a Leeds restart.
78 min “Could they try rolling subs for keepers?” wonders Dan Christmas. “Keeper goes down, get him off the pitch asap and if your sub keeper isn’t in goal within a minute you have to put an outfield player in. Then the ‘injured’ keeper has to stay off for a bit, but can swap back with the sub. Too complex?”
Way too complex, I fear. And imagine the tedious outrage from managers and players.
77 min Leeds have been the better team in the second half – not by much, but enough to ensure nobody connected with Chelsea will feel safe while it’s 1-0.
76 min Struijk is booked for a clear tactical foul on Joao Pedro.
75 min Chelsea and Manchester City have never met in an FA Cup final. Nor have Leeds and City for that matter. But there have been other finals between Chelsea and City – in the League Cup in 2019, when Kepa refused to be substituted before a penalty competition, and a nine-goal thriller in the Full Members’ Cup in 1986. I think they once met in Europe as well.
74 min: Double substitution for Leeds Lukas Nmecha and Willy Gnonto replace Ao Tanaka and Noah Okafor.
71 min: Chelsea substitution Cole Palmer replaces Alejandro Garnacho, who was handled excellently by Jayden Bogle.
70 min Okafor is back on the field, possibly after a pickle juice chaser or two.
69 min That Calvert-Lewin chance (58 min) was better than I realised at the time, certainly for a player of his quality. He strained his neck muscles to put enough power on the header but it swerved straight into the hands of Sanchez.
I guess sometimes, when a centre-forward has only a split-second in which to calculate everything, they concentrate on generating power and don’t have enough bandwidth to place the header as well.
As if I’d know!
68 min Okafor is down with what looks like cramp. It’s a very hot day at Wembley and he has, in the parlance of our times, put a shift in.
67 min “The sooner the laws are changed so that an outfield player has to leave the pitch when a goalie receives treatment, the better,” says Andrew Goudie.
I like the idea in principle, because these goalkeeper timeouts are immensely annoying, but how would you decide which player? Teams could waste even more time deciding who take off!
66 min: Chelsea substitution Andrey Santos replaces Romeo Lavia, who was quietly excellent in the first half but doesn’t have enough miles in his legs to play the full game.
65 min Gudmundsson’s cross is cleared to the edge of the area, where Tanaka shanks a volley well wide. He couldn’t sort his feet out in time, but it was half a chance and he threw his head back in disappointment at his own technical deficiency.
62 min Stach curls the free-kick wide of the near post. He was trying to catch Sanchez with a surprise shot from a narrow angle, but he couldn’t get it round the wall and on target.
61 min It briefly threatens to kick off near the touchline, between both the players and backroom staff, before everyone returns to their usual positions.
Whether Sanchez is cheating or not, we know goalkeepers do it all the time and it’s becoming a big problem.
60 min Caicedo is booked for fouling Stach just outside the area on the right. Sanchez goes down before the free-kick can be taken, and all connected with Leeds think it’s a tactical timeout. He didn’t look in agony as he sat down.
58 min The dangerous Okafor cuts inside from the left and clips a flat cross towards the far post. Calvert-Lewin rises imperiously but his header is too close to Sanchez. Not an easy chance, even for him, but it was a chance.
57 min Enzo swings the corner onto the roof of the net.
56 min Joao Pedro and Enzo combine to find Garnacho, whose shot deflects behind for a corner. It’s been a fun, end-to-end second half so far.
54 min Leeds are furious when Gusto isn’t penalised for obstruction near his own byline. He was on all fours at one point, then I think he had the ball wedged behind his legs. All the while Aaronson, Okafor and another Leeds player were snapping around him.
53 min Leeds have been miles better since half-time, particularly in possession.
52 min “On the international feed, they showed the Leeds subs playing a rondo,” writes Kári Tulinius. “They seemed in very good spirits and were having fun. Were I in a cup semifinal, I’d be petrified with stress during half-time. If Leeds play the second with anything approaching that joie de vivre, they’ll have a good chance of winning.”
50 min Okafor surges thrillingly down the left only to get too much elevation on his cross. Not even a leaping Calvert-Lewin could reach it.
48 min Chelsea almost score a memorable team goal. Neto finds the underlapping Gusto, who sits a defender down with a Cruyffish turn and slides the ball back to Fernandez on the edge of the area. He flicks it behind his standing leg to Joao Pedro, eight yards from goal, but he takes too long and is eventually crowded out.
With a couple of Leeds defenders around, Joao Pedro wanted to work some space for a clearer shot at goal. On reflection he should have just leathered it.
46 min: Brilliant save by Sanchez!
Anton Stach almost has an instant impact with a ferocious shot from 25 yards. Sanchez reacts brilliantly to thrust up his right hand and paw it over the bar. That’s a great stop because he saw it late and it was such a sweet strike.
46 min Leeds begin the second half. These are the revised teams.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Neto, Enzo Fernandez, Garnacho; Joao Pedro.
Leeds (4-2-3-1) Perri; Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Gudmundsson; Stach, Ampadu; Aaronson, Tanaka, Okafor; Calvert-Lewin.
Leeds manager Daniel Farke has made a double substitution at half-time. Joe Rodon and Anton Stach replace James Justin and Jaka Bijol, which means a switch to 4-2-3-1.
Half-time reading
Half-time: Chelsea 1-0 Leeds
Chelsea dominated the first half at Wembley and lead through Enzo Fernandez’s accomplished header. Joao Pedro, who has been superb on his return, hit a post while Robert Sanchez saved well at the other end to deny Brenden Aaronson.
Leeds may need to switch to a back four because they’re being outplayed in midfield.
45 min Four minutes of added time.
44 min Leeds are having a better spell as half-time approaches, at least in terms of possession. Now they need some penetration.
42 min A long throw from Ampadu is headed up in the air once and then twice before the ball bounces towards Okafor. He shoots over from 15 yards, a tough chance as it didn’t come down as quickly as he wanted.
39 min Bogle nutmegs Cucurella and moves into the area. He’s tackled by Chalobah but Aaronson wins a corner for Leeds. Tanaka takes and it’s headed away, I think by Chalobah.
36 min Garnacho, down and apparently in need of treatment, suddenly springs to his feet to receive a pass on the left side of the area. He does Bogle with a nice chop outside and blasts a low ball right across the face of goal.
35 min Okafor collects a loose touch from Joao Pedro and drives a low shot from 20 yards that is blocked by Chalobah.
Leeds would probably take this scoreline at half-time, because apart from the Aaronson chance they’ve been second best. As Steven Gerrard says on TNT Sports, they are being outnumbered and overrun in midfield.
30 min A chest-volley from Joao Pedro on the edge of the area fades a few yarsd wide of the far post. He’s been outstanding. I’m sure Chelsea would have played better today anyway, caretaker-manager bounce and all that, but Joao Pedro’s intelligence, movement and deftness of touch make a big difference. He’s the rug that ties the room together.
28 min Nothing much is happening in the game just now.
I wish somebody would pull my hair, mainly because it would mean I had some.
27 min “Nearly half an hour gone in a Chelsea v Leeds FA Cup game,” says Justin Kavanagh, “and we’ve not seen a serious reducer, yellow card, nor a punch thrown. The game’s gone!”
