Everyone played really well. It's hard to single out anyone other than Auba, who of course won this final and the semi. Xhaka was a beast, and Ceballos a dervish. If Lampard thought he was going to boss midfield, he got a rude surprise. The Chelsea defense always looked shaky; Pepe seemed to terrify them.
I'll have plenty to say about how the future looks, but this game has made the present seem quite shiny. If you'd have offered me this in December, I'd probably have taken it. It looked unlikely after our terrible form at Villa Park and at home against Watford, but we beat a big team and it was not a smash-and-grab like Liverpool or an against the run of play situation like the semi. We just plain beat a good team to win a trophy and set Mikel up for a continuation of his very impressive work in four competitions. What academy player wants out now?
Well, a word on Pulisic: he was their most dangerous player, and I hope he recovers from that nasty hamstring injury quickly. He's going to be a great player for club and country. Here's some sympathy for Pedro, too. He's leaving Chelsea but laid it on the line as a sub and got a dislocated shoulder for it. Azpilicueta has never been a favorite of mine, so his tears left me unmoved. The Blues have oodles of money to spend and will be in Champions' League, so they're fine. We needed this one a lot more than they did, and I'm delighted we seized it.
