Liverpool were crowned as 2022 Emirates FA Cup champions at Wembley on Saturday, after a penalty shootout win sealed their victory over Chelsea.
The two teams couldn't be separated after 120 minutes of play before that, and in the aftermath of the Final, let's see what our colleagues at Opta came up with...
● Liverpool have lifted the FA Cup for an eighth time - only Arsenal (14) and Manchester United (12) have won it more often.
● Chelsea have become the first team in the history of the FA Cup to lose the Final in three consecutive years (2020 v Arsenal, 2021 v Leicester, 2022 v Liverpool).
● This was only the fifth FA Cup final to finish goalless, with the first three (1886 between Blackburn and West Brom, 1911 between Bradford and Newcastle and 1912 between Barnsley and West Brom) all going to replays, while the other (2005 between Arsenal and Man Utd) was decided on penalties.
● Liverpool have won both the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season for the first time since 2000-01 under Gérard Houllier.
● Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp is the first German manager to win the FA Cup, beating his fellow German counterpart Thomas Tuchel in this Final.
● This final was only the third FA Cup final in the last 15 seasons to go to extra-time, along with 2014 (Arsenal 3-2 Hull City) and 2016 (Man Utd 2-1 Crystal Palace) and the first to be goalless after 90 minutes since 2007, which Chelsea won 1-0 with an extra-time winner from Didier Drogba.
● Chelsea have contested five penalty shootouts this season (one in the Super Cup, three in the League Cup and today). No other top-flight team has ever been involved in more than three in a single season.
● Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah was substituted in the first half, only the second time he’s started a match for the club and gone off in the first half, with the other also coming in a final against Real Madrid in May 2018 in the Champions League
● Chelsea's Thiago Silva became the oldest outfield player (37 years & 234 days) to start an FA Cup final since Stanley Matthews in the 1953 final for Blackpool, aged 38.
● Jordan Henderson made his second FA Cup final appearance, with his other coming in 2012 in Liverpool’s defeat to Chelsea. He was the first player to have a gap of ten years between FA Cup final appearances for the same side since David O’Leary for Arsenal (13 years, 1980 and 1993).
