Chelsea beat 10-man Leicester City 4-2 in a dizzying FA Cup quarter-final clash at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues looked set to comfortably progress into the quarterfinals after goals from Marc Cucurella and Cole Palmer at the break, although they ended up having to rely on stoppage-time efforts from substitutes Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke. do the job.
Axel Disasi’s disastrous own goal brought Leicester back into the game early in the second half, and Stephy Mavididi equalized for the Foxes just after the hour mark.
However, Leicester’s hopes were dented when Callum Doyle was shown a red card for a desperate foul on Nicolas Jackson, and Chelsea’s numerical advantage was finally made clear by Chukwuemeka’s 92nd-minute try.
Madueke, replacing the dispirited Raheem Sterling, who missed a penalty in the first half and had a miserable day overall, completed the win with a superb solo goal that allowed Chelsea to secure their place at Wembley.
It looked like it was going to be something of a Sunday stroll for Chelsea when Sterling fed Palmer just before half-time to make it 2-0.
Sterling had just missed a great chance one-on-one with Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk, who had previously parried the winger from the penalty spot.
This penalty came after Cucurella’s first goal in the 13th minute, and the winger was able to take advantage of an empty net after fantastic work from Jackson.
But Disasi’s own goal, in which centre-back Robert Sanchez was surprised with a wild back pass attempt, gave Leicester hope, and Mavididi soon restored parity with a sensational curling shot.
Chelsea thought they had been awarded another penalty when Doyle fouled Jackson, but VAR deemed the foul had taken place outside the Leicester penalty area. But the Foxes’ respite was short-lived as referee Andy Madley upgraded Doyle’s yellow card to red.
Mauricio Pochettino was booed by some Chelsea fans with shouts of “You don’t know what you’re doing” when he replaced Mykhailo Mudryk with Chukwuemeka, but the former Aston Villa youngster thanked his manager for his trust with a cool finish.
Madueke left the result beyond doubt, and Chelsea met Manchester City and Coventry City in the semi-finals.
With this victory, Chelsea will play Manchester City in the quarterfinals on April 17 at Wembley.
