For a Leicester City side gunning for promotion to the Premier League, the FA Cup was little more than a distraction.
A competition they could take or leave.
Especially when the opponent was a Premier League giant like Chelsea.
Even if Chelsea rotated their entire squad, Leicester’s odds of winning were slim.
The Championship schedule was brutal.
Fixtures came thick and fast.
After the coaching staff ran the numbers, Pearson made the call: heavy rotation for the FA Cup tie.
A win would be a bonus.
A loss was fine.
“We’ll go with a 4-2-3-1.
Build everything through Leo.” “His passing is our edge.
Let him take corners and free kicks.
Make set pieces count.” “Mahrez is improving every game.
We can overload the right, get him and Leo linking up more.” “And up front?
Who are you starting?” The assistant coach’s question made Pearson pause.
Leicester’s deepest position was striker.
Beyond the locked-in starting pair of Jamie Vardy and David Nugent, they had four more forwards.
Kevin Phillips, who had won the Premier League Golden Boot and the European Golden Shoe at Sunderland over a decade ago, still grinding away in professional football at forty.
Gary Taylor-Fletcher, a veteran journeyman of the lower leagues.
Chris Wood, the New Zealand target man.
And Tom Hopper, a young striker pulled up from the youth setup.
Too old, too raw.
Fine for Championship cameos off the bench.
But starting any of them against a club like Chelsea?
That was waving the white flag.
Pearson thought for a moment, then made his decision.
“We’re running Plan B.
Put Jamie in.
Let’s see if he and Leo have better chemistry with him as the lone striker.” …
London.
Cobham training base.
The tactical room.
José Mourinho and his Chelsea coaching staff were holding their own pre-match meeting for the FA Cup tie.
Unlike the grim faces in Leicester’s camp, the Chelsea staff looked completely at ease.
As far as they were concerned, drawing a Championship side in the FA Cup was a gift.
Leicester might be top of the Championship table, but Chelsea weren’t about to lose sleep over them.
They were the Blues.
Seated at the head of the table in his blue Chelsea training gear, Mourinho pored over the scouting report on Leicester.
Six years since his return to Stamford Bridge.
The Special One was a different man now from the brash figure who had first stormed into English football.
Sharper.
More contained.
His black hair had long since gone grey.
A treble winner at Inter Milan.
A hundred-point league champion at Real Madrid.
In his second stint at Chelsea, Mourinho remained the one man owner Roman Abramovich trusted at the helm.
And he was repaying that faith.
The season had started shakily.
A new squad still finding its feet.
But by December, the pieces had clicked.
The system was working.
The wins started coming.
From matchday sixteen, a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, Mourinho’s Blues had ripped through the brutal Christmas fixture pile-up with a terrifying run: six wins, one draw.
In the last league round, Chelsea had beaten the Red Devils, Manchester United, 3-1 in front of forty thousand at Stamford Bridge.
That result cemented third place and kept them breathing down the neck of league leaders Arsenal.
The league title was within reach.
The Champions League knockout stage was secured.
Chelsea’s season was shaping up beautifully.
But beneath the surging momentum, a problem was festering.
Chelsea’s squad depth simply could not sustain a war on four fronts.
The Christmas gauntlet had left most of the starters running on fumes.
A few had already broken down with injuries.
Premier League.
Champions League.
FA Cup.
League Cup.
Something had to give.
And Mourinho, one of the most successful managers in the modern game, knew this dance by heart.
He looked up and made the call without hesitation.
“Full rotation for the FA Cup.” With a real shot at the Premier League title, the league had to be the priority.
The FA Cup and League Cup?
Send out the reserves and the kids.
Let them get minutes.
If they somehow stumbled into the semifinals, then the starters could take over.
Drawing the Foxes in the FA Cup meant Mourinho would be facing Leicester City for the first time.
He didn’t know the opponent well.
But Mourinho never took any opponent lightly.
Especially one from the Championship that had just knocked out a Premier League side.
He set down his pen and lifted his gaze.
Those sharp eyes found his assistant, José Antonio Torrero.
“Antonio.
Go ahead.” Torrero nodded, stood, and moved to the computer.
A few clicks later, match footage filled the projection screen.
The closing stages of Leicester’s cup tie against Stoke City.
When the highlights ended, Torrero queued up another clip.
Leicester’s away win over Leeds United just days earlier.
He played the footage, pausing at key moments to break things down for the rest of the staff.
“In both matches, their number 23, Leo Hale, came on in the second half.
Every time he entered the game, Leicester shifted from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1.” “This eighteen-year-old is a real talent.
His passing, especially, is a genuine threat.
Across one cup appearance and two league appearances off the bench, he’s averaged two key passes per game.” “Based on my analysis, this number 23 is very likely to start the upcoming FA Cup tie.
And he will almost certainly be the focal point of their attack.” “We cannot afford to underestimate him.” Mourinho, watching Leo’s match footage for the first time, was already transfixed.
Something was stirring behind his eyes.
This Leicester number 23 was a genuine prospect.
A diamond in the rough.
The intelligent off-ball movement.
The expansive vision.
The creative, incisive passing.
The composure to dictate a game’s tempo.
Every quality made Mourinho’s mind race.
He found himself mentally slotting the kid alongside the great midfielders he had coached.
Deco.
Wesley Sneijder.
Özil.
Xabi Alonso.
And then it hit him.
This eighteen-year-old’s passing, his vision, his movement off the ball.
None of it was a step down from those elite names.
A single question rose in Mourinho’s mind, sharp and insistent.
In a league known for bruisers over artists, how had England produced a player with this kind of creativity?
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates!