Chelsea Advances to the FA Cup Finals, Trash Manchester United, 3-1

Chelsea reached the FA Cup finals after defeating Manchester United tonight with 3-1. The second pair of the semis saw the Blues dominating the pitch, and United’s catastrophic defense, which handed all three goals to the rival.

Many expected to see a hard and tough battle at Wembley, and the majority gave United an edge in this contest. Eventually, it turned out to be completely opposite than this, with Frank Lampard’s boys routinely beating the most decorated Premier League club.

“I can’t ask for any more than that – maybe a couple more goals – and that’s surprising when you play against a team of their quality. More than that, it was the work ethic of the performance,” said Lampard after the match.

David de Gea and the entire defensive line of the Red Devils were way below the expected level of play, and their mistakes led to all three goals Chelsea scored.

The first goal was delivered by Olivier Giroud who used the misunderstanding between de Gea and Victor Lindelof, rushing between the two and diverting one cross past the Spaniard. It was the 11th minute of the stoppage time in the first half, and a shocker for United.

Previously, Harry Maguire and Eric Bailly had one pretty nasty head collision, which saw the Ivorian leaving the pitch injured.

As soon as the second half started, Mason Mount sent a shot from some 25 yards, with de Gea reacting like an amateur, making it possible for Chelsea to reach a two-goal advantage.

“Maybe I had a little bit of fortune with my goal, but I was obviously very happy because it gave us a bit of room to express ourselves,” said the youngster.

Until the end of the match, Maguire scored an own goal to propel the Blues to 3-0, and complete the disastrous night for his side. The only positive thing for them was Bruno Fernandes’ penalty which saved the honor of the Red Devils some five minutes before the end.

The penalty was awarded after Anthony Martial forced one of Chelsea’s defenders to bring him down.

All in all, this was a miserable day for all the United’s players and their fans, as all the hopes of reaching at least one domestic trophy this year, simply vanished. They now have the Europa League as the ultimate place to attack the silverware.

Four FA Cup wins as a player.

Now Frank Lampard will be competing for his first as a manager 🙌 pic.twitter.com/TsxG3Su8Vn

— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 19, 2020

On the other side, the Blues will face their local rivals in the FA Cup finals – Arsenal. The two sides have met in various finals during the recent years. The last one was in Baku, in the Europa League trophy match, once Chelsea demolished their neighbors, 4-1. Previously, Arsenal was better than the Blues in 2017 FA Cup finals, 2-1.

The one guy who played in both games only on different sides is Olivier Giroud, who has four FA Cup medals so far. The French international aims to add another one, which would make him one of the few players with such an achievement.

“I said to my boys in the dressing-room that I would love to win another FA Cup; it would be my fifth one. It’ll be special for me to play against Arsenal. We are very happy with the team performance today,” he stated.

The match between Arsenal and Chelsea is set for August 1 at Wembley.