Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (2006-07 FA Cup Final)
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2007 FA Cup Final | |
Scoreline | Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United |
Date | 19th May 2007 |
Competition | FA Cup |
Referee | Steve Bennett |
Stadium | Wembley Stadium |
Attendance | 89,826 |
The 2007 FA Cup Final was played on Saturday 19 May 2007 between Chelsea and Manchester United. It was the 126th FA Cup Final and the first to be played at the new Wembley Stadium, with the Blues having won the last FA Cup final at the old Wembley Stadium seven years earlier. It was Chelsea's eighth appearance in an FA Cup Final and resulted in their fourth win. Chelsea won the match 1-0 through Didier Drogba's extra time goal, completing a domestic cup double in the 2006-07 season, as they had won the League Cup in February. Chelsea became only the third club to complete the domestic cup double - Arsenal did it in 1993 and Liverpool in 2001. The result also meant that José Mourinho had won all three English domestic competitions in his three years at the club.
United were playing for a double of their own as they had beaten Chelsea to the Premier League title two weeks earlier. The game was widely considered to be a disappointment by pundits and fans alike, with little action before Drogba's late winner. Due to the new stadium's increased capacity compared to the old all-seater Wembley, the match had an attendance of 89,826, the largest for an FA Cup Final since Wimbledon's famous 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 1988 final, when 98,203 attended.
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Match review
The opening twenty minutes of the game were marked by cautious play and a lack of creativity from both teams, until Didier Drogba produced the game's first noticeable attempt on goal by hammering a shot wide from thirty yards. It took a further ten minutes for another shot, this time from Chelsea's Frank Lampard who forced a save from Edwin van der Sar. Wayne Rooney was twice called offside for United in the first half, but it was the closest the Red Devils came to any kind of chance.
At half time, Chelsea manager José Mourinho made a like-for-like substitution, bringing on Dutch winger Arjen Robben for Joe Cole. A minute after the restart, Rooney produced the most exciting action to that moment, dribbling round two Chelsea defenders before aiming a powerful shot towards goal, but Petr Čech managed to make a convincing save. Rooney set off on another run ten minutes later, carrying the ball a good sixty yards towards goal only to be tackled by the last Chelsea defender, Wayne Bridge. Ryan Giggs then flashed a volley barely two feet over the bar from close range after a cross from Paul Scholes, who picked up the game's first booking a minute later after fouling Lampard. From the resulting free kick, Drogba curled the ball around the United wall and off the outside of the near post. Rooney set off on another dangerous run soon after, dribbling round both John Terry and Michael Essien before having the ball taken off his feet by Čech.
With neither side doing enough to score in normal time, the game went into extra time for the third consecutive FA Cup Final. United's best chance of the game fell to Giggs from only three yards out after Rooney slid a pass across goal, but the Welshman couldn't get proper contact on his shot and Čech got down to make the save. Giggs appealed for a goal, claiming that the ball had crossed the line in Čech's arms, but the linesman didn't flag and referee Steve Bennett waved play on. Television replays appeared to show that the ball had just crossed the line, but only after Giggs's momentum had pushed Čech backwards into his own goal. After the game, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that Giggs had been fouled by Essien just before he took his shot.
The deadlock was finally broken after 116 minutes when Drogba played a one-two with Lampard on the edge of the box after receiving the ball from John Obi Mikel, and prodded the ball past the onrushing van der Sar and into the net. [1] Chelsea picked up three more bookings in the last few minutes as they tried to halt a late United comeback, but Drogba's goal proved to be the last chance of the game as Mourinho's side held on to win the first ever FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium.
Match details
19 May 2007 15.00 | Chelsea | 1 - 0 | Manchester United | Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 89,826 Referee: Steve Bennett |
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Drogba 116' | aet |
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Road to the Final
Season | Day | D | M | Year | Round | Opposition | Venue | Result | Score | Additional information |
2006-07 | Sat | 6 | Jan | 2007 | 3rd Round | Macclesfield Town | Home | Won | 6-1 | |
2006-07 | Sun | 28 | Jan | 2007 | 4th Round | Nottingham Forest | Home | Won | 3-0 | |
2006-07 | Sat | 17 | Feb | 2007 | 5th Round | Norwich City | Home | Won | 4-0 | |
2006-07 | Sun | 11 | Mar | 2007 | 6th Round | Tottenham Hotspur | Home | Drew | 3-3 | |
2006-07 | Mon | 19 | Mar | 2007 | 6th Round Replay | Tottenham Hotspur | Away | Won | 2-1 | |
2006-07 | Sun | 15 | Apr | 2007 | Semi Final | Blackburn Rovers | Neutral* | Won | 2-1 | *Old Trafford (Manchester United) |
Match reports
Highlights
Images