Wembley comes alive with noise and colour of fans' return

London

LONDON'S Wembley Stadium came alive with the largest sports crowd in England since the coronavirus pandemic hit as 22,000 spectators descended on the home of English football to witness Leicester City lift football's FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.

On Saturday night (Sunday morning, Singapore time), Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans's stunning strike that beat Chelsea 1-0 was met with a wave of noise from the 6,000 Foxes fans behind the goal where the ball had nestled in the top corner.

There were just as jubilant scenes when Chelsea saw a late equaliser ruled out after a VAR (video assistant referee) review, and at the final whistle.

"It's fantastic for the club," said Leicester fan Alan Edwards.

"To have fans at the game as well. It's a shame we can't have 40,000 here, but it's brilliant to have so many here. You can hear the atmosphere."

The FA Cup final was the third test event held at Wembley with fans, as a mass rollout of vaccinations have led to restrictions across Britain starting to ease.

Just under 4,000 people were present in the same stadium to witness Leicester's semi-final victory over Southampton last month.

That attendance was doubled for Manchester City's 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup final on April 25.

Later this week, crowds of up to 10,000 will return to English Premier League grounds for the final two matchdays of the season, including another vital clash between Chelsea and Leicester on Tuesday that is effectively a play-off for a place in next season's Champions League.

Wembley will host eight matches during next month's Euro 2020 championships with at least 25 per cent of its 90,000 capacity. There are even hopes that both semi-finals and the final could be played out in front of more than 22,500 people.

"You can see the difference the fans make for us," said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers on Saturday.

"The energy they gave us, it felt like there was 30,000 of them in here today. With the noise they made, we felt that energy and that really pushed us over the line. That is what football is about. That connection between the players and the fans."

Seated in a socially distanced manner

The return of fans in larger numbers did not come without issues, though.

As players from both teams took the knee before the game began as a sign of protest against racial injustice, there were audible boos from supporters at both ends of the stadium.

Supporters had to show evidence of a negative test for Covid-19 in the 48 hours prior to kick-off and were seated in a socially distanced manner.

However, there were still large gatherings at pinch points on public transport and on Wembley Way before accessing the stadium.

"We are spaced out once we are in the stadium for the cameras, but we are not in here," said Chelsea fan Robert Bradshaw as fans made their way out of Wembley Park underground station.

Of the 22,000 tickets available for the game, 12,000 were distributed to the two clubs with another 10,000 divided between locals, frontline workers from across London and English Football Association (FA) stakeholders.

Even for a very different cup final, some tradition was maintained as the hymn Abide with Me was sung by a choir before the kick-off, while Prince William was introduced to both teams in his role as president of the FA. AFP