Chelsea 5 Man City 1 (agg 6-2): Antonio Conte watches young Blues cruise to FA Youth Cup victory at Stamford Bridge
Conte ignored Tottenham clash with Crystal Palace to see Chelsea youngsters turn on the style at Stamford Bridge
ANTONIO CONTE ignored Tottenham’s bid to put pressure on Chelsea in the title race as he chose to watch his youngsters win the FA Youth Cup instead.
Spurs’ clash with Crystal Palace was being shown live on television,but the Blues boss was more concerned with checking up on the under-18 starlets in their clash with Manchester City.
The Italian sat alone casting an eye on the promising group of youngsters coming through the ranks at Stamford Bridge.
And he was left with a huge grin after watching highly-rated Ike Ugbo score a spectacular overhead kick.
Conte is understood to be willing to blood young players into his squad next season if he considers them good enough.
And he prioritised watching them in person in the high profile game instead of worrying about how Spurs were getting on against Palace.
He was rewarded with a brilliant display by Jody Morris’ side against a City team who were desperate to stop Chelsea winning three straight Youth Cups.
Despite only being 17, there are high hopes Trevoh Chalobah can develop into a first team regular at Stamford Bridge – and he capped an assured display at the back by opening the scoring with a seventh minute header into the top corner.
City couldn’t live with Chelsea’s pace and skill levels, and the London club doubled their lead on the night on 23 minutes when Ugbo spectacularly volleyed Dujon Sterling’s cross into the far corner.
City briefly gave themselves a hope of clawing their way back into the game when Lukas NMecha slotted home just seconds after wasting another great chance.
But that only inspired Chelsea to step up another level, with Callum Hudson Odoi hitting the third with a driving run which ended with him shooting into the top corner.
And Sterling again punished City by adding a fourth as Chelsea built a scoreline their dominance on the night had deserved.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was also in the ground taking a personal interest in the youth team, along with Frank Lampard and John Terry.
And they were treated to a fifth goal in the dying moments through substitute Cole Dasilva.