City skipper hints FA Cup win could be Foxes finale

Captain Wes Morgan hinted Leicester’s FA Cup heroics could be his perfect Foxes finale. The skipper made a surprise late substitute appearance in Saturday’s historic 1-0 final win over Chelsea, which saw the club lift the trophy for the first time.

Morgan, who had been out since December with a back problem, is out of contract in the summer and the defender – who won the Premier League in 2016 – conceded time is running out on his career.

The 37-year-old said: “Nothing’s been announced yet, I need to discuss it with the club, but I don’t think I’ve got too many more miles on the clock, we’ll say that. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make the squad. The gaffer asked me if I could make it on the bench and I said if I’m needed for the last 10 minutes, I’ll be available.

“We were 1-0 up and the last thing I expected a week ago was to be playing again, but I came on and now I’ve won an FA Cup.”

Morgan came on for the last eight minutes as Leicester survived a late scare to win the cup after Youri Tielemans’ secondhalf screamer.

Former Leicester defender Ben Chilwell had a goal disallowed for offside two minutes from time after a VAR check while Kasper Schmeichel also saved from his old teammate and Mason Mount.

Five years after winning a shock Premier League title the Foxes lifted a maiden FA Cup and Morgan believes it underlines their ambition with the club also third in the league.

He said: “It shows our intentions. We entered the Premier League six or seven years ago, and we’ve had ups and downs but we’ve got a real direction now since the gaffer took over.

“We have an identity. We know what we want to achieve and if we want to do that we’ve got to start winning trophies.

“We’re in a strong position (to reach the Champions League), and looking at our fixtures, it’s not job done yet.

“We’ve got two more games to go, and we play Chelsea again funnily enough, but we know a positive result will secure our place in the top four.”

Luke Thomas also revealed his disbelief after Leicester’s FA Cup triumph.

The teenage left-back only made his senior debut last July and lifted the cup with his home-town club having come through the academy.

Thomas, playing in front of a crowd for the first time in his senior career, said: “If you asked me that (winning the FA Cup) a year ago I’d have said: ‘What are you on about, mate?’ I’m pretty speechless. Coming to Wembley, we’ve created history.

“I know how much it means to fans, I’ve been a Leicester fan since I was born. I’m sure they’ll be having a good time.

“It was really good, to go out for the warm-up to have the fans there to have your back, it gave me an extra motivation. It was unbelievable playing out there and it gave me a boost.

“It gave me more energy and adrenaline. It was the first time they’ve seen me live at last, so it was a chance for me to show them what I can do.”

Meanwhile, Jamie Vardy insists the Foxes are hungry for more trophies after claiming cup glory.

“It’s a brilliant feeling,” Vardy told LCFC TV.

“We’ve managed to do it, but when the gaffer came in over two years ago, he said he wanted to keep progressing, how he wanted to play, and he wanted us to be challenging for trophies.

“Now we’ve got one, we’re going to be wanting some more. It’s hard work, dedication and we want to progress as much as we can.

“You can see with how he’s got us playing, he wants us to play a certain way and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Everyone’s bought into it.

“To keep that progression going is testament to himself and what he’s working with us on the training field, and testament to the lads for wanting to put the work in.

“We’ll keep going, keep progressing as much as we can and there’s two important games now in the league to look forward to.”

Successive FA Cup final defeats will hurt Chelsea for some time to come but captain Cesar Azpilicueta insisted there is no time to dwell on the pain.

“We were not at the level of the performances that we have shown in the last few weeks and it’s up to us to raise our levels and come back, because we have three games in front of us,” Azpilicueta told Chelsea’s official club website.

“Of course we are very disappointed but we don’t have a lot of time. We have to recover and go again.

“We have lost the last two games, two important games (losing 1-0 to Arsenal in the league before the cup final). We have missed two opportunities and we cannot let more opportunities go.

“We cannot change the results but we have to be humble, to accept that we can be better, pick ourselves up and go again, because we have three crucial games for the club, for us, for the fans, and we are determined to win them.”

The final was the mostwatched game of the season with a peak BBC TV audience of 9.1 million viewers.

There was also a further two million live programme requests across the BBC’S digital platforms.

Wes Morgan and Kasper Schmeichel lift the trophy, top. Jamie Vardy, above, has now had his hands on both the FA Cup and Premier League as a Leicester player.