LONDON — A world record crowd of 77,390 watched Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0 in the English Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley.
Chelsea’s Australian striker, Sam Kerr’s 68th-minute strike proved decisive as Chelsea won the trophy for the third straight year to remain in contention for a league and cup double.
The sold-out final smashed the previous record attendance for a women´s domestic club match, when Atletico Madrid hosted Barcelona in front of 60,739 people in 2019.
Chelsea is second in the Women´s Super League, a point behind leader United, but with a game in hand. And while victory secured the FA Cup, it could also have given Emma Hayes’ team a psychological advantage in the closing stages of the title race.
“It´s one piece of the jigsaw. I want more, this isn´t enough,” Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert said. “We want to go for the league now. We can only control the controllables.”
It might have been a different story had Leah Galton’s strike in the opening minute not been ruled out for offside as United got off to a flying start. But United could not take advantage, with the score 0-0 at halftime and Kerr finding the winner after the break.
“We switch off in one moment, there´s space to Sam (Kerr) to run in to which we haven´t given her all game,” United manager Marc Skinner said.
“I´m proud of the girls today, they are hungry. Their (Chelsea’s) position is what we want to take. We are a young, hungry team. I need to find the pieces to make sure we challenge all the time.
“Chelsea has done hardly anything in the game, but they are winners for a reason, they find that tiny little gap.”
As well as winning three FA Cups in a row, Chelsea has also won back-to-back league titles in the past two seasons.
Hayes said her team’s trophy-winning knowhow was the difference.
“We had to kick each other at half-time,” she said according to Reuters. “We know how to stay in a game and even if we weren´t at our best we have to work out how to change it. We had to possess the ball better and then find the quality in the final third.”
This was a royal occasion, too, with Prince William among the 77,390 in attendance, a world record for a women’s domestic club match. An Aston Villa fan, he must have been disappointed when Chelsea defeated Villa in the semi-final (Kerr got the only goal, obviously), but hid it well.
“We didn’t have our best game but that’s a sign of a great team when you just push through,” said Kerr. “Everyone did their part and we stuck with it and ended up winning.
Kerr added of being named player of the match: “I don’t deserve this. There are people way more deserving than me today, but I will take it on behalf of the team.”
“I’ve never coached a player like Sam Kerr,” said Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, who has worked with some of the world’s greatest, including Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Kelly Smith.
“She has such conviction, courage, the way she attacks everything. I love that she’s willing to take responsibility at the top end of the pitch.”
The tie almost had a sensational start, Manchester United having the ball in the Chelsea net after 16 seconds through Leah Galton. But Ella Toone had run offside as she broke down the right before delivering the cross Galton converted.
However, the ‘goal’ settled United who were playing their first final, and in most cases making their first appearance at Wembley.
They went on to control the first half while Chelsea struggled to provide Kerr with any service.
Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger had to claw away a deflected shot by Millie Turner, Nikita Parris was fouled fractions outside the box, and both Galton and Alessia Russo had chances.
Yet Chelsea would have led at the break but for Earps touching a 41st-minute Lauren James header onto the post.
In theory Kerr led the line with support from Canada’s Jessie Fleming, 79 days before the pair will be in opposition in Melbourne at the Women’s World Cup.
