Leicester City’s FA Cup match winner Youri Tielemans paid tribute to the club’s former owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha insisting their triumph was for “his legacy”
The Foxes owner was tragically killed in a helicopter crashed in October 2018 with his son, Aiyawatt, now in charge.
He was in the stands at Wembley and watched on as Leicester won the trophy for the first time in their history – five years after their iconic Premier League triumph.
Tielemans’ strike from distance will go down as one of the greatest FA Cup Final goals but after the 1-0 success he paid tribute to the club’s former chief.
He told BT Sport: “What a moment. I’m really happy with this. I can’t think of a better goal than this, I scored a few but not for Leicester.
“It was a really nice goal to score in the final of an FA Cup. I did it for all the Leicester fans, I’m looking up and I see our president, his father would have been proud.
“Even though I didn’t know him its for his family, his club and his legacy.”
Kasper Schmeichel, who needed to pull off two huge saves as Chelsea sought an equaliser, was at the club when Vichai was in charge and also referenced him.
He said: “We have a picture on the inside of our shirts so he’s always with us. This is what we’ve dreamt of and talked about for so long.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Leicester thought they’d been denied late on when Chelsea levelled proceedings.
VAR though intervened and showed that Ben Chilwell was in an offside position during the move and it was chalked off.
“It is amazing, I’m still over the moon. I’m really happy for the fans watching from home as well,” Tielemans added.
“Really thank you VAR – what an amazing thing that is. Its a tough decision, but when you have to make it you have to make it.
“It was tight, but it was offside and you have to give that call.”
