As Erin Cuthbert walked around the sides of the Wembley pitch, passing in front of the Chelsea fans in the east stand, there was finally time to breathe. Cuthbert raised her arms and the Chelsea supporters behind Phallon Tullis-Joyce’s goal responded as if in perfect synergy. In some ways, they are, given how accustomed everyone at Chelsea has become to winning, and winning like this. In Sonia Bompastor’s first season, they continued where Emma Hayes left off, while creating more history.
Three goals without reply completed the unbeaten domestic treble, with the Women’s FA Cup reclaimed to add to the Women’s Super League title and the League Cup, all won without defeat. “Everyone thinks it’s easy, but so much hard work goes into it,” Cuthbert said moments after full-time on the Wembley pitch. Easy was how it looked, after Catarino Macario doubled Chelsea’s lead with a thumping late header and Sandy Baltimore wrapped it up with her second in stoppage time.
With 74,412 at Wembley, the biggest match of the season went the same way as the rest of the campaign. Chelsea were victorious, and inevitably so. Their dominance in the Women’s Super League rendered this a largely forgettable season. That is not their fault, but this wasn’t a great FA Cup final either, as that would require two teams who truly believed they could win it at kick-off.
At which point, we should talk about the opposition, although that may be a generous way to describe Manchester United. Yes, Chelsea may be on another level to everyone else in England, but Marc Skinner’s decision to drop Ella Toone was an act of self-sabotage that not only weakened United’s chances of pulling off the upset but also set the tone for an entire afternoon. A bit like Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United did not turn up.
United finished two places and 16 points behind Chelsea in the table. Before today, they had beaten them just once in 15 meetings, only winning one. Skinner attempted to rouse his squad by speaking of United as “rebels”, suggesting that while United can not match Chelsea’s resources, their depth of squad, or their history of success, that they could disrupt it at Wembley.
So what was Skinner’s plan? The underdogs’ plucky idea that would take down Chelsea’s Death Star? Well, it was dropping Toone, Manchester United’s players’ player of the season for the second year running and the ultimate big-game performer, to the bench, and waiting until half time before bringing her on.
By that point, United were 1-0 down, trailing to Baltimore’s penalty late in the half after Celin Bizet tripped Cuthbert in the box. United, to be fair, had started fairly well, pressuring Chelsea with their high-press, and were close to taking the lead when Toone’s replacement in midfield, Dominique Janssen, blazed a rising shot just over the bar from the edge of the box.
Apart from that, it was hard to escape the idea that all United wanted to do was stop Chelsea from playing, to break up their momentum, and to hang on until Skinner could play his hand and summon Toone from the bench, in theory triggering an injection of energy and drive. With Janssen in midfield, United were physically bigger, but they sorely lacked Toone and her impact. Chelsea figured United out and then started to play around them.
Bompastor’s side had been the better team up to when Bizet dangled her left leg in the box and caught Cuthbert near her hip. Aggie Beever-Jones, the best player of the pitch, figured she could drift where she wanted and was dangerous on the turn. Cuthbert started to win her battles in midfield, keeping Chelsea on the front foot. Mayra Ramirez brought it together at the point of attack, with one run past Maya Le Tissier almost leading to a tap-in for Lucy Bronze, who was denied by Leah Galton.
Galton seemed to spend as much time at left-back than left-wing, such was the extent of her defensive tracking. United also required the saves of the excellent Tullis-Joyce to keep them in it, until Baltimore stepped up to the penalty spot and calmly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give Chelsea the lead in the final. Having won both games against Manchester United 1-0 this season, it looked to be a good omen.
Toone began her warm-up immediately on the half-time whistle. She had impacted big games before, scoring in the Euro 2022 final, but United needed their player of the year from the start, to produce a moment like her opener in last year’s 4-0 win over Tottenham. When she arrived, it felt as if any belief United held had dissipated. There was one chance, but Toone shot straight at Hannah Hampton.
It came down to Chelsea to finish it for themselves, as Macario brought the impact from the bench. The United States international replaced Ramirez and was then clinical as she headed in Baltimore’s free-kick. Baltimore made sure of it. For Chelsea, it was job done. The odds were against United, but their “rebels” were anything but.
