1997 FA Cup Final

1997 FA Cup Final

Event	1996–97 FA Cup
Chelsea Middlesbrough 2 0
Date	17 May 1997
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
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The 1997 FA Cup Final took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium and was won by Chelsea with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough.

Chelsea were attempting to win their first FA Cup final for 27 years, while Middlesbrough were contesting their first ever final. Chelsea took to the field on the back of something of a renaissance under Dutch manager Ruud Gullit, having recorded their best league finish for a decade.

Middlesbrough, on the other hand, began the final having been relegated from the Premiership and also been losing finalists in the League Cup, thus becoming the first English team to finish in the last two of all three major tournaments - two years after Crystal Palace became the last team to finish in the last four of these three competitions.

Chelsea's victory meant that Gullit was the first foreign or non-white manager to win a major trophy with an English club.

For most of the Chelsea players, it was the first major honour of their career, but it was the fourth time that Mark Hughes had featured in an FA Cup winning side (having played for Manchester United's FA Cup winners of 1985, 1990 and 1994) and he had also collected a further four major honours with his former club.

Match review

Chelsea took the lead just 42 seconds into the match, with Italian midfielder Roberto Di Matteo receiving the ball and firing it into the goal off the crossbar from 25 yards to record what was at the time the quickest ever goal in a Wembley FA Cup final (Louis Saha broke this record 12 years later in the 2009 final after just 25 seconds, ironically against Chelsea, though Chelsea won the match 2-1), breaking Jackie Milburn's 42-year record. Middlesbrough's prolific striker Fabrizio Ravanelli limped off after 21 minutes, further diminishing his side's chances of victory. Late in the first half Gianluca Festa put the ball in the net for Middlesbrough, but the goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside. In a largely disappointing match, in which Chelsea were generally in control, Chelsea eventually added a second goal seven minutes from full-time with Eddie Newton steering the ball into the net from Gianfranco Zola's clever flick to seal a 2–0 win.

Match details

17 May 1997 15:00 BST	Chelsea	2 – 0	Middlesbrough	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 79,160 Referee: Stephen Lodge (South Yorkshire)
	Di Matteo  1' Newton  83'	Report

Chelsea

Middlesbrough

CHELSEA: GK 30 Frode Grodås RWB 2 Dan Petrescu CB 6 Steve Clarke CB 5 Frank Leboeuf CB 20 Frank Sinclair LWB 17 Scott Minto CM 11 Dennis Wise CM 16 Roberto Di Matteo CM 24 Eddie Newton CF 10 Mark Hughes CF 25 Gianfranco Zola 89' Substitutes: GK 13 Kevin Hitchcock DF 8 Andy Myers FW 9 Gianluca Vialli 89' Manager: Ruud Gullit

MIDDLESBROUGH: GK 25 Ben Roberts RB 14 Curtis Fleming CB 5 Nigel Pearson CB 18 Gianluca Festa LB 17 Clayton Blackmore RM 10 Juninho CM 8 Robbie Mustoe 29' CM 6 Emerson LM 20 Phil Stamp CF 11 Fabrizio Ravanelli 24' CF 21 Craig Hignett 74' Substitutes: DF 4 Steve Vickers 29' DF 7 Vladimír Kinder 74' FW 9 Mikkel Beck 24' Manager: Bryan Robson

MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shootout if scores still level. Three named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

Road to Wembley

Chelsea Home teams listed first. Round 3: Chelsea 3-0 W.B.A. Round 4: Chelsea 4-2 Liverpool Round 5: Leicester City 2-2 Chelsea Replay: Chelsea 1-0 Leicester City Quarter-Final: Portsmouth 1-4 Chelsea Semi-Final: Wimbledon 0-3 Chelsea (at Highbury, London)

Middlesbrough Home teams listed first. Round 3: Middlesbrough 6-0 Chester City Round 4: Hednesford Town 2-3 Middlesbrough Round 5: Manchester City 0-1 Middlesbrough   Quarter-Final: Derby County 0-2 Middlesbrough Semi-Final: Chesterfield 3-3 Middlesbrough (at Old Trafford, Manchester) Replay: Middlesbrough 3-0 Chesterfield (at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield)

External links

• Game facts at soccerbase.com