The Blues had fought hard to establish an extra-time lead against a dogged Plymouth side and with just a few minutes remaining it looked like we would see the tie out comfortably. However, the Pilgrims had other ideas, winning a penalty that Kepa saved diving to his left.

Having already played a vital role in three shoot-out successes this season, this time the Spaniard did the business in-game. His skipper was only too pleased to underline his ethic.

‘Kepa is brilliant,’ said Azpilicueta

‘He is a great example to everybody. He has gone through a lot of difficulties at this club, but he has always had a positive attitude.

‘He looks at himself, improves for the team, even if it’s not easy to be number two. He always supports Edou. We have a fantastic group of goalkeepers, Edou, Kepa, Marcus, with Hilario the goalkeeping coach. Whoever plays is ready and we saw that again.’

Azpilicueta, who confirmed he left the field with fatigue and nothing else in extra-time, had equalised shortly before half-time with a superb improvised backflick.

‘I am not very used to being in that area,’ he laughed, ‘but it was a good ball from Mason, first-time cross, so there weren’t many options and I tried my best!

‘We tried to create some overloads on the sides,’ Azpi added of our strategy that saw him and Marcos Alonso bomb forward.

‘In the second half they pushed us a bit more and we couldn’t get into the box as much as in the first half when we could find Hakim, Mason with movement, try to create space for each other.

‘When you have the ball in the final third, you need to create movement. Sometimes the attacking guys need a bit of support from the back, sometimes unselfish runs to create space for our team-mates, but overall we need to be more aggressive and occupy the box better.

‘We are happy to go through, but we know there are a lot of things to improve, and we will work on them straightaway.’