Once again, Leicester have made history. Some 137 years after they were founded, some 128 after they first entered the FA Cup, they have finally won it. It may be an exaggeration to say that Youri Tielemans’ goal was worth the wait, but it was the sort that deserved to determine a game of this magnitude.
A crowd of almost 22,000, the biggest in English sport for 14 months, witnessed the sweetest of strikes. Few had more reasons to savour it than Brendan Rodgers, who has often seemed a nearly man of management but who got his first major trophy in England.
For Thomas Tuchel, in contrast, this week has provided his first real setback. Chelsea have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in his reign. Lose to Leicester again on Tuesday and Chelsea could soon be out of the top four.
The Tuchel blueprint has been to prevail in low-scoring games where his side have had control but this time Chelsea did not keep a clean sheet. His starting XI created too few chances.
Tuchel has tended to get his selection decisions right but Chelsea’s muted display posed the question if Ben Chilwell, in particular, should have started. Their threat came late on, when Kasper Schmeichel made superb saves to tip the substitute Chilwell’s header on to the post and Mason Mount’s volley away.
The drama then saw the oldest competition decided in the newest of ways. Chilwell thought he had equalised, meeting Thiago Silva’s pass and seeing Caglar Soyuncu’s attempted clearance cannon in off him. His celebrations were euphoric, but curtailed when he was ruled fractionally offside. VAR helped Leicester win the cup.
It was frantic at the end, but Leicester got the reward they deserved. They were patient at the start and well organised, weathering the loss of the injured Jonny Evans after half an hour, and they had the better opportunities in a first half when neither side mustered a shot on target.
Tielemans had been the game’s classiest player even before he struck. It was a goal that had certain echoes of Chelsea’s first-minute opener in the 1997 final, scored by Roberto Di Matteo. Tielemans let fly from 25 yards for a spectacular goal. Chelsea complained that Ayoze Perez had handled in cutting out Reece James’ pass before Luke Thomas found Tielemans, but in vain.
Plenty of games under Tuchel have been tight and this was no exception. Many of the defining figures were defensive. Tuchel has a capacity to confound and sprang a surprise by using James as a centre-back, with Cesar Azpilicueta outside him as a wing-back. If the plan was to use the youngster’s pace against Jamie Vardy, he distinguished himself with an early block from the Leicester striker’s shot.
It highlighted another of Tuchel’s choices: Timothy Castagne had escaped behind Marcos Alonso to cross and Chelsea had plumped for the Spaniard instead of quicker Chilwell.
While Kelechi Iheanacho, the hero of Leicester’s quarter- and semi-final wins, was quiet, they had a set-piece threat. Soyuncu scored with a header at Manchester United on Tuesday and had two chances to provide a sequel but headers from Tielemans’ and Thomas’ free kicks were off target.
Chelsea, meanwhile, struggled to fashion chances. Mount found space between the lines and that produced their first effort, angled just past the post. Wayward finishing has been a theme of Timo Werner’s Chelsea career and he blazed a shot way over Schmeichel’s bar.
His unfortunate start continued when his glancing header took the ball away from Azpilicueta when the unmarked captain seemed to have a simple finish. On a day when Tuchel made a point by not even putting the out-of-favour Tammy Abraham on the bench, Chelsea lacked a finisher.
Alonso mustered the belated first effort on target with a header straight at Schmeichel but Leicester showed solidity. Then Chelsea, initially risk averse, ended up throwing on attackers as Olivier Giroud and Callum Hudson-Odoi joined Havertz and Pulisic on the pitch, though Chilwell exerted more of an impact than any of them.
Rodgers summoned Wes Morgan, the captain of the 2016 title winners, for a late cameo and the 37-year-old played his part in another remarkable feat as somehow Leicester hung on. Finally, they have won the FA Cup.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Andor
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Chef Nobu's advice for eating sushi
“One mistake people always make is adding extra wasabi. There is no need for this, because it should already be there between the rice and the fish.
“When eating nigiri, you must dip the fish – not the rice – in soy sauce, otherwise the rice will collapse. Also, don’t use too much soy sauce or it will make you thirsty. For sushi rolls, dip a little of the rice-covered roll lightly in soy sauce and eat in one bite.
“Chopsticks are acceptable, but really, I recommend using your fingers for sushi. Do use chopsticks for sashimi, though.
“The ginger should be eaten separately as a palette cleanser and used to clear the mouth when switching between different pieces of fish.”
RESULT
Esperance de Tunis 1 Guadalajara 1
(Esperance won 6-5 on penalties)
Esperance: Belaili 38’
Guadalajara: Sandoval 5’
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
