Chelsea’s Under-19 side roared to victory in the UEFA Youth League with a 3-2 win against Shakhtar Donetsk in Nyon, Switzerland.
A brace from Izzy Brown and a goal from Dom Solanke mean the youngsters can now call themselves “The Champions of Europe.”
Adi Viveash, Chelsea’s Under-19’s manager said: ‘It was a very good final against tough opposition. I’m immensely proud of all of my players.’
‘It’s a great achievement for the Academy. The current coaches and backroom staff that work with this age group are the fortunate ones because years of hard work have gone into these players’ development. It’s just phenomenal for everyone that works in the Academy from top to bottom.
‘We started the game brilliantly and scored a great early goal through Izzy but then we took our foot off the gas a little and you can’t afford to do that against teams of this quality. Shakhtar then stepped up their game and got a justified equaliser but we did respond well with another strong spell before half-time.
‘We started the second half in the same improved way we did against Roma [in the semi-final] and worked the ball a lot better, scoring two more good goals early on. We dominated the second half and Shakhtar struggled to handle us but then so has every other team we’ve played which is why, when we’re on form, we’re the best.’
A late goal from Shakhtar was a consolation goal. Chelsea Captain Izzy Brown was over the moon with his team’s efforts and showed the world how much it meant to him when lifting the trophy.