Singling out any Chelsea player as the best of the bunch in our FA Cup victory over Manchester City is hard, such were the impressive performances of those in royal blue across the pitch, but Hakim Ziyech delivered the semi-final’s decisive moment to cap an outstanding individual display.
The Moroccan’s goal 10 minutes into the second half owed much to the pace, vision and execution of Timo Werner. Having burst clear of the City backline, he laid it on a plate for his team-mate, in a replica of the move that gave us the lead at home to Atletico Madrid last month.
Afterwards Ziyech expressed his gratitude to Werner for the assist, and spoke about the effort put in to seal a victory that marks a statement of intent.
‘Timo did a good run into the space, I made my run, it was a good delivery and I put it in easy,’ said Ziyech.
‘You always have to have that feeling before the game that you want to score.
‘It feels good to be in the final. Everybody is happy. We did a good job, especially in the first half.
‘The second half was a little bit difficult to close all the spaces, but we scored the one goal that we needed. It was enough.’
Ziyech believes he is getting closer to finding his best form and he hopes to do so ahead of a blockbuster finale to the 2020/21 campaign.
Having watched us battle hard to close out the win against Man City after being subbed, the winger is confident for what lies ahead.
‘Those moments are always nervous from the stands,’ he said of the last few minutes.
‘I tried to stay calm but sometimes it’s difficult! In the end everybody did well, we killed the game and we kept a clean sheet as well.
‘It was a perfect week and we can enjoy that. Now it’s a special end to the season if you see what we are still playing for. All the ways are open and everybody is excited about it and we cannot wait to play those games.’