Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
A tough test awaits Chelsea Football Club as it could lose playing Champions League football next season if it fails to lift the trophy this year by beating Manchester City on May 29, 2021.
This was heightened after losing the FA Cup final to Leicester City on Saturday in Wembley and Liverpool beating West Brom on Sunday evening in the last kick of the game.
The club’s first heartbreak in pursuing a double was dashed yesterday when Leicester City midfielder, Youri Tielemans, scored the only goal to give the Foxes the FA Cup trophy at Wembley and render Chelsea a back-to-back loss in the tournament final.
The Belgian settled a closely contested encounter with a spectacular right-foot drive that flew beyond Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga into the top corner from 25 yards in the 63rd minute.
Former Leicester defender Ben Chilwell’s header was saved by Kasper Schmeichel who also produced a stop to turn Mason Mount’s powerful shot wide.
The Blues thought they had salvaged the game when defender Wes Morgan bundled the ball into his own net following a last-minute goalmouth scramble before it was ruled out by the barest of margins following the intervention of Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Chelsea will now turn their attention to the Premier League and the Champions League final against Manchester City.
They have already knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup, ending their hopes of a quadruple, and also beat Pep Guardiola’s team in the Premier League, and will be facing a tough test of beating them for the third time in the final scheduled to hold at the Estadio do Dragao in Porto having been moved from the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul due to COVID-19.
The final will take place on Saturday, May 29 and will kick off at 8pm Nigerian time.
Before then the club’s fate for qualifying for the next competition will be confirmed even if they lose out on winning depending if they end up finishing in the top four.
Chelsea is currently sitting in fourth on the English Premier League table with 64 points with two games to go and lead Liverpool with just one point with two more games to play.
Chelsea play Leicester City at home for a chance to revenge their FA Cup loss on Tuesday, May 18 in Game 37 and then face Aston Villa away at the final game for the season at Villa Park on Sunday, May 23.
