Ndidi, Iheanacho Win Historic FA Cup With Leicester City
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By Amaechi Agbo
Super Eagles duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho were from start to finish as Leicester City defeated Chelsea to win their first ever FA Cup on Saturday.
The Foxes playing at the Wembley Stadium defeated last year’s finalists, Chelsea by 1-0.
Youri Tielemans struck a sensational second half shot in the 63rd minute to give Leicester the lead which Chelsea never recovered from.
The goal was enough to hand Leicester City their first FA Cup in front of 21,000 fans at Wembley – with Ben Chilwell’s 89th-minute effort ruled out by VAR for offside.
It was the biggest gathering of supporters inside a stadium since the coronavirus pandemic began – and they were treated to incredible drama in the 140th FA Cup final.
Leicester fans had the perfect view as Tielemans fired a brilliant shot into the top corner of the goal at the end on 63 minutes. It was a goal worthy of winning any final and capped a superb performance from the Belgian.
It had been a game of few clear chances up until that point but Kasper Schmeichel was then forced into two fantastic saves at the other end, pushing a Chilwell header onto the post and then pulling off another wonderful stop to deny Mason Mount, as Chelsea desperately searched for a response.
Former Leicester defender Chilwell thought he’d done just that, when Caglar Soyuncu’s clearance went in off him, but VAR rightly spotted the Chelsea man had strayed marginally offside in the build-up.
Leicester, who lost key defender Jonny Evans to injury midway through the first half, held on and, 52 years after their last appearance in a FA Cup final, were able to hold the trophy aloft for the first time, adding another remarkable chapter to their story, following their 2015/16 Premier League triumph.
Ndidi and Iheanacho were in action for Leicester from the first to the last minute and gave good account of themselves.
Iheanacho has played pivotal role in the build up to the final scoring twice and providing assist as Leicester saw off Manchester United in the quarterfinal.
He followed it up with a goal in the semis against Southampton as the Foxes defeated them 1-0.
Ndidi and Iheanacho have thus joined other Nigerian players such as Kanu Nwankwo, Victor Moses, Mikel Obi in the league of FA Cup winners