MANCHESTER CITY U18 1, CHELSEA U18 1 (FA Youth Cup Final, 1st Leg)
- Callum Hudson-Odoi and Lukas Nmecha hit the post
- Ike Ugbo opens the scoring for Chelsea late in first half
- Phil Foden levels the scores in the second half
The FA Youth Cup final lies finely poised after Chelsea U18 scored an away goal to take back to London and dominated the first period against a City side who didn’t come into their own until after Phil Foden levelled the scores with a fine second half strike after Ike Ugbo converted one of a string of first half chances that Chelsea had.
Both sides hit the woodwork but Chelsea seemed the happier with the scoreline as they took their foot off the gas in the second half, giving City’s defence a rest.
Sancho, Foden, and Diaz were quickly into their stride with early interchanging passes and moves with Diaz especially tenacious against Chelsea’s physicality despite needing treatment in the second half after some rough tactics from Chelsea.
The visitors came closest in the opening stages with a shot by Callum Hudson-Odoi tipped away by Aro Muric while Mason Mount’s shot was blocked.
It was the first of many shots on goal by the powerful Chelsea winger who hit the post and kept City’s defence on their toes with a string of shots and runs after playing well here for their U18 side 10 days ago.
Phil Foden then tried his luck from 25 yards after 20 minutes with a speculative shot that drifted wide.
The truth is, after a bright opening, City seemed to withdraw a little as Chelsea dominated the possession, organising themselves into a effective unit while troubling Aro Muric’s net more than Jared Thompson’s at the Chelsea end.
City’s build-up floundered after sloppy passes, poor decision-making, or good defending by Chelsea on the night.
Chelsea were piling on the chances, with Ike Ugbo’s shot blocked, Sterling having one chance saved by Muric and firing over from another, and the dangerous Hudson-Odoi wasted several chances later in the half as City’s defenders seemed more consistent than their attackers.
City had golden chances to steal the lead. First, in the 37th minute and Diaz was left relatively unmarked and allowed to slide the ball through for Lukas Nmecha but the striker lashed his shot against the post.
Perhaps he still had that miss on his mind two minutes later when Nmecha carved out his own chance less than three minutes later but lost composure and sent the ball over the bar while Jadon Sancho found himself clear either side of the break but shot wide.
Callum Hudson-Odoi goal cancelled out by Phil Foden
City’s profligacy was punished by Chelsea when Hudson-Odoi turned provider after a Chelsea shot came back off Muric’s near post and with City’s goalkeeper stranded the winger simply squared the ball for Ugbo who slotted it into an unguarded net.
Chelsea kept piling the pressure on in the second half but Muric saved from Mason Mount but City weathered the storm and managed to level the scores after 61 minutes when Phil Foden drilled the ball past Thompson after a fine piece of skill on the ball.
City couldn’t afford to rest on their laurels with their defence struggling to cope with Hudson-Odoi.
City finally began to get a grip on the game in the last few minutes with the tide turning for them but Chelsea seemed happy to take an away goal back to London as the home side failed to overly test Thompson in the Chelsea goal.