On This Day – 17th May
Chelsea won the FA Cup on this day back in 1997, beating Middlesbrough 2-0 in the Final at Wembley.
This was only the second time that The Blues had won the FA Cup, the first time was in 1970.
Chelsea had a dream start thanks to an early goal from their Italian midfielder Roberto di Matteo.
The Italian fired goal in from 30 yards after only 42 seconds, becoming the fastest goalscorer in FA Cup Final since 1955.
Di Matteo took the ball from ten yards inside his own half and ran towards the Middlesbrough goal. Boro’s defenders were backtracking and gave him so much time and space that he decided to go for goal, hammering a shot into the goal off the underside of the bar.
Middlesbrough thought that they had found a way back into the game towards the end of the first half when Gianluca Festa scored. Their joy was short-lived though as the linesman ruled the goal out for offside.
Little else happened in one of the more dull FA Cup Finals of the 90’s until Eddie Newton grabbed a second for Chelsea on 83 minutes.
Middlesbrough had also reached the League Cup Final that season, but lost to Leicester City in a replay.
To complete a hat-trick of misery, the club were also relegated from the Premier League. Their relegation was confirmed on the final day of the league season at Leeds United.
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