The Super Eagles duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho and their Leicester City teammates will battle Chelsea in the final of this season’s English Football Association Cup final, England’s oldest competition, in the iconic Wembley Stadium this Saturday.
Buddies on and off the pitch.
This is an opportunity for both managers, Brendan Rodgers of Leicester City and Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea to win their first trophy with their respective clubs.
This is Leicester City’s only hope of winning silverware this season while Chelsea will play in the UEFA Champions League final in two weeks’ time against another English side, Manchester City.
Both teams are in the battle for a top four finish, which will see them play in the UEFA Champions League next season.
Qualifying for this final did not come in a platter of gold. The Foxes as Leicester City are fondly called started by thrashing Stoke City 0-4 in the third round. In the fourth round they brushed Brentford aside 1-3 before narrowly defeating fellow premier league side, Brighton 1-0.
The quarter-final draws pitched them against The Red Devils, Manchester United. The Foxes outfoxed Ole Gunnar and his wards 3-1 with Kelechi Iheanacho grabbing a brace.
In the semi-final against Southampton, Iheanacho was on hand again to score the only goal of the match.
The Blues, Chelsea started with a 4-0 thrashing of Morecambe in the third round before defeating Luton Town 3-1 in the fourth round.
In the fifth round they piped Bansely 0-1 and disunited Sheffield United 2-0 in the quarter final.
The semi-final saw them take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who were then in hunt for a historic quadruple. Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech scored Chelsea lone goal that took them to the final and ended Manchester City’s dream of winning four titles this season.
Meanwhile, the English football authorities have confirmed that this final will be used as pilot scheme to allow about 20,000 fans into the Wembley Stadium to watch the match live. It will be the largest number of fans allowed to watch a single match since the lockdown due to COVID 19.
The total prize fund for the FA Cup in the 2020-21 season is £15.9 million.
That pool of money is distributed among the participants, depending on how they perform during the competition.
This year’s FA Cup winners receive £1.8m.
While Chelsea lost last year’s final to Arsenal, Leicester City are making their first final since 1969.
