Palmer Scores Winner As Man City Win Youth Cup

Cole Palmer scored a late winner as Manchester City claimed their first FA Youth Cup since 2008. Goals from James McAtee and Morgan Rogers had given City the lead after Marcel Lewis had opened the scoring for Chelsea. A Taylor Harwood-Bellis own goal had levelled things up before Cole won it with five minutes remaining.

It was a moment of ecstasy for the youngster, after he suffered the anguish of missing a penalty in the shoot-out against Liverpool in 2019 and a moment of glory for the blues, who had lost four successive finals until Monday, with three of those defeats at the hands of Chelsea.

Chelsea looked like extending that miserable run when Lewis beat the offside trap, rounded the keeper and tapped home to give the Londoners a lead that would last less than ten minutes. Palmer and Tommy Doyle combined well to set up McAtee, who fired home from ten yards out and the teams went in level at the break.

City were eager to claim the cup to put the memories of the previous defeats behind them and Morgan hit the bar before putting the blues in front. Liam Delap drove into the penalty area and squared to the winger, who fired home from close range.

The blues were now on course to take the trophy for the third time but Chelsea, and lady luck, would have other ideas. Lewis curled a shot towards the City goal and the ball deflected off the unlucky Harwood-Bellis, wrong-footing Slicker in the City goal and drew the Londoners level.

But City would not be denied victory. Substitute Jayden Braff, who thought he’d won hit before his earlier shot had cannoned off the post, slid the ball through the Chelsea defence for Palmer to slot home.

A hard-fought victory, but City finally claimed the FA Youth Cup.

Final Score: Manchester City 3-2 Chelsea