That sound you heard from north London on Saturday evening was not just a football crowd. It was the sound of English football finally getting up off its knees.
Youri Tielemans’ second-half winner for Leicester to settle a memorable, magical FA Cup final will be recalled as one of this cherished institution’s great strikes.
The shot was delivered so truly by the cultured Belgian that it barely deviated in flight. That is incredibly difficult to do with the modern football.
But on a cold late spring day in the capital, that moment 18 minutes into the second half seemed to carry an even greater resonance than a goal to win a big football match usually does.
This was the afternoon when our game was finally allowed to look to the future again and it felt even more liberating than anybody could really have expected.
There were only 21,000 supporters inside Wembley on Saturday — only a quarter of its capacity. Yet it certainly sounded like more. The injection of real life back into an important sporting occasion was tangible and moving.
Football and its public have inched their way through the Covid-19 pandemic with more fortitude, dignity and grace than many would have predicted. But the echo of matches played in isolation has never lost its deep sadness. Indeed, the longer it went on, the deeper that feeling began to penetrate.
Those who felt 12 months ago that supporters were not intrinsic to the beauty of this game have been proved wrong and here was the evidence.
The atmosphere at Wembley built steadily from the moment the Cup final hymn, Abide With Me, was so beautifully sung before kick-off.
It even survived a poor first half and by the time Tielemans’ winning goal flew into the Chelsea goal, it began to feel as though a dam had finally burst.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said: ‘It has been such a difficult year for the supporters. This game is about the connection between players and supporters and we have missed that so much.
‘For us to win a final against a great club like Chelsea means everything and it means even more that so many people were here.’
This was a final that certainly felt like it had an appropriate winner.
That is not to be dismissive of a likeable Chelsea team. Thomas Tuchel has coached his side superbly since taking over from Frank Lampard in January and Chelsea beat Manchester City in the semi-final. They had earned their place at Wembley.
Nevertheless, Leicester were virgin winners and celebrated as such. The club from the East Midlands had not even contested an FA Cup final for more than half a century.
To steal a quote from one of Rodgers’ former clubs, this really did seem to mean more.
It is tempting to wonder what supporters of those many clubs who no longer seem to take the Cup seriously were thinking as they watched from home.
The FA Cup has without doubt lost some of its sheen over the years, dulled by comparisons to the Premier League and big European competitions.
So many Premier League managers tend to treat it as an inconvenience in the early rounds. Yet here our favourite cup was, in all its visceral glory.
Yes, tomorrow’s league meeting between these two clubs is arguably as important. Whoever wins will have one foot in next season’s Champions League. That will bring money and profile.
But what will Leicester supporters talk about in years to come? Without doubt it will be this, the day their club bathed in glory, the day they felt silver in their hands.
The scenes at full-time were magically old school. Players clad in maroon wept on the field. Rodgers — such a fresh and inventive coach —was given the ‘bumps’ by his team.
There were modern twists, too. Kasper Schmeichel — who produced a save for the ages to deny Mason Mount an equaliser — appeared to be speaking to his family, possibly his father Peter, by video call on his phone.
Up in the stands, a late VAR decision in Leicester’s favour was celebrated with as much abandon as had been the winning goal. Maybe it’s not such a bad system after all.
Leicester desperately wanted to win a cup final and this was a cup final worth winning, a game of football that not only nodded to one of our sport’s great traditional days out but also to a future that has for so long seemed so dark.
This was only one step on the road back to freedom. Challenges remain, but it was a taste of what we have all missed so much.
This was not a great FA Cup final in terms of the football. Leicester actually won it with their only shot on goal. Chelsea would have led at half-time had they had the run of the ball inside the Leicester penalty area.
They were the more assertive team at that point. But they were not unlucky, as Tuchel said afterwards.
Leicester’s goal was superb, Chelsea’s ‘equaliser’ was indeed offside.
Nothing unfortunate about any of that, nor about the fact that Roman Abramovich’s money has built a squad without a natural and reliable goalscorer in it.
How lovely, though, to debate all this. How terrific to look back on a day that felt warm and real and inclusive.
Those who were there will never forget it and one of them was England manager Gareth Southgate.
This occasion and all the overdue familiarity it returned to us will not have been lost on him.
Wembley this summer for the European Championship may yet be a rare old place to be.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com