It has been a week to remember for everyone connected with Chelsea Football Club.
After recording their biggest victory under head coach Thomas Tuchel so far last weekend, hammering Crystal Palace 4-1 at Selhurst Park, the Blues then progressed to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2014 on Tuesday evening.
Now, the Blues have reached their second successive FA Cup final following a 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday teatime.
Moroccan star Hakim Ziyech netted the only goal of the game just ten minutes into the second half to seal the Blues’ passage to the final, bringing an end to City’s hopes of scooping a famous quadruple.
Ziyech tapped home Timo Werner’s square pass to secure a fully deserved win for Tuchel’s well-drilled Blues, who delivered an impressive showing under the Wembley arch, ensuring they will return to the national stadium next month to face either Leicester City or Southampton.
Assessing his side’s performance, Blues chief Tuchel, speaking in his post-match press conference, said: “If you play against Pep [Guardiola] you know you’re playing at the highest level in Europe because he’s been on the sideline at Barcelona, Bayern, and now Man City.
“He is the benchmark with his teams, you can see that with the Premier League.
“Our target was to close the gap for 90 minutes because it’s possible in football if you arrive with good momentum. I am very, very happy and proud with the performance of our team because we played with a lot of courage, we were very self-confident and were brave with and against the ball.
“We had a very good start to the match, the first 35 minutes of the first half, and the first half of the second half.
“We deserved the win which was most important. We were very active and did not passive.
“We deserved a win against maybe the best manager and clearly one of the best teams. We are very happy with the performance and it will be a huge boost to our self-confidence, progression, and development.”
The win over Guardiola’s City is the latest club to have fallen victim to Tuchel’s revitalised Blues.
Since succeeding Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge towards the end of January, Tuchel has watched his Chelsea side get the better of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid on two occasions, meaning that he does mean business.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea’s players are delighted to have reached their first cup final of the season, flooding social media after the game with a wave of messages and photos. Here, football.london has taken a close look at how the Blues stars reacted following the full-time whistle at Wembley.
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With a hectic week now having reached its conclusion, Chelsea’s players would have no doubt relished some down-time and an opportunity to rest. However, they are back in action as soon as Tuesday evening when they welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Stamford Bridge.
After facing Graham Potter’s Seagulls, the Blues face West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday in a huge battle in the race for the top-four, before locking horns with Real Madrid in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final on April 27.