x_Carla_x |
|
| John Terry played in his 50th FA Cup game on Saturday. Five of those matches have been finals and four ended with him lifting the iconic trophy.
After a rare season without silverware in his hands last campaign, the skipper placed great value on this win over Liverpool as he considered the 2-1 victory, both for the special place the FA Cup has in his affections and for the effect it has on confidence for the final fortnight of a by-no-means-over season.
'We can take the momentum from this win into the Champions League final,' said Terry, 'but we understand that Bayern Munich are a good side and very dangerous going forward.
'We will wait and see how the Premier League pans out for us but we have got two really good weeks' preparation ahead for the final, and we can take encouragement from this win and the way people were writing us off midway through the season.
'During pre-season you aim to be in these sort of competitions at the end, which we are. We fought very hard in the FA Cup. Birmingham took us to a replay which was tough and Robbie Di Matteo's first game in charge, and the togetherness from then on has been incredible. Robbie deserves a lot of credit for that.'
Looking back on Saturday's 90 minutes at Wembley, Terry was not short on individual performances from team-mates to praise. The likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Petr Cech who had been there before on such days were names mentioned but so was a player in his first FA Cup Final - the scorer of the opening goal, Ramires.
'Rami's pace has been excellent all season and he got us off to a great start. We were keen to get a second goal before half time, the message was to keep pushing on and don't sit back and wait for Liverpool.
'When we did get the second goal in the second half, we did it very well. Big players like Didier and Lamps, they always step up to the mark on the big occasions.
'We dominated the first three-quarters of the game and at 2-0 we were in control, but then Andy Carroll proved a handful when he came on and he got that goal, but we are just delighted as a squad that we dug in deep and kept them out.'
That was down in no small part to the hand of Petr Cech which somehow pushed Carroll's header up onto the bar with a couple of inches to spare.
'It didn't cross the line, I am pretty sure of that,' insisted Terry, 'and I was honest enough in the semi-final to say that I am not sure our one did. Pete made a great save. It was probably one of the best saves in an FA Cup Final. He has been excellent for us all season and big players step up on big occasions. The linesman deserves a lot of credit as well.
'If Liverpool had got the second then maybe they would have had the momentum in extra-time to go on and win it.'
Instead it was Terry rather than Steven Gerrard who climbed the steps to raise the Cup, becoming the first captain to do so four times with the same club. Frank Lampard shared the role.
'We did that when we won the Double too,' Terry pointed out. 'Moments like that go down in Chelsea history and it was important myself and Frank were there.
'I am very privileged to be at a club like Chelsea, to have the armband for many years and lift all these great trophies I dreamed of as a boy.'
ChelseaFC |
| | |
