The two best youth academies in the land met for the third straight season in the FA Youth Cup final, and just as in 2015 and 2016, it were Chelsea who emerged victorious and by quite a decent margin as well. Following last week’s 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Little Etihad, Chelsea waltzed to a 5-1 win in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, to blow away the visitors by a 6-2 aggregate scoreline.
Goals from Trevoh Chalobah (younger brother of Nathaniel), Ike Ugbo, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Dujon Sterling, and Cole Dasilva entertained the 5000-strong crowd (all tickets that were made available were sold), which included not only John Terry and Frank Lampard...
...but head coach Antonio Conte and the big boss himself, Roman Abramovich. (The dude on the left is Leonid Slutsky, former coach of Russia, whom we’re helping to find a job in England, supposedly.)
It’s tough to pick out which of Chelsea’s handful of goals was the best, but perhaps the one from the ridiculously exciting 16-year-old Hudson-Odoi takes the cake.
GOAL! What a strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi, who restores @ChelseaFC's two-goal advantage. 3-1 (4-2 agg) #FAYouthCup pic.twitter.com/dYfUKdDOvb
— The FA (@FA) April 26, 2017
Then again, Ugbo’s finish was quite something as well.
GOAL! It's 2-0 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to Chelsea now, as @ikeugbo volleys home. #FAYouthCup pic.twitter.com/8zModdWHZ5
— The FA (@FA) April 26, 2017
Meanwhile, Dujon Sterling, who provided the cross for Ugbo, showed that anything they can do, he can do just as well.
GOAL! We have another! And it's @ChelseaFC again as Dujon Sterling breaks away to make it 4-1 (5-2 agg) #FAYouthCup pic.twitter.com/wCqofNwge7
— The FA (@FA) April 26, 2017
After a dominant first half, which ended 2-0, City came out firing in the second and grabbed a goal through the competion’s leading goal-scorer, Lukas Nmecha, but Chelsea held on, regrouped, and put the game to bed.
The FA Youth Cup is ours, for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, including the last four. Yet another tremendous achievement; all credit to the boys and of course the coaches, led by one of our own, former youth and first-team player Jody Morris.
Well done, all!
Mason Mount lifts the FA Youth Cup! pic.twitter.com/CJV7IRzpj6
— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) April 26, 2017