Ruben Loftus-Cheek chose a fantastic time to net his first Chelsea goal in nearly three years, breaking the deadlock in our FA Cup semi-final against his former club Crystal Palace. He reflected afterwards on the magnitude of that moment, the role he wanted to have on the game, and a familiar final that awaits next month.
Yesterday the second half was approaching its midway point when Loftus-Cheek crashed us into the lead after a blocked cross ran into his path. It raised the Wembley roof and had the midfielder punching the air with delight, the first time he has been able to celebrate a Chelsea goal of his own since another victorious semi-final, that against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League in 2019.
‘I normally wouldn’t have celebrated against Palace after having such a good spell there, and the respect for their fans I have is massive, but it had been so long I just wanted to let the emotion out and celebrate,’ explained Ruben.
‘It was a fantastic moment, and way overdue. It’s been a tough road, injuries, going on loan to find my form again, but I always believed in myself and I always wanted to play for Chelsea. I’ve played quite a lot this season so I’m happy.
‘This season I have been deeper, sometimes centre-back or right wing-back, so I haven’t been arriving in the box as much as normal, but I found myself in an attacking position, one where I had more of a licence to get in the box,’ he added.
‘I just focused on getting a good contact on it, and I did that. It took a little deflection, but I’ll take it! It was a brilliant moment, my first goal at Wembley, incredible noise. I’m overjoyed.’
Loftus-Cheek’s involvement at Wembley began in the 26th minute when he replaced the injured Mateo Kovacic in the centre of our midfield. It followed a pair of starts and impressive performances at right wing-back.
‘Everyone wants to play and I feel like I’ve done well in the last couple of games and I wanted to keep the momentum, but the strength in depth in the squad is fantastic,’ Loftus-Cheek pointed out.
‘I had to be ready to step in, Kova was feeling his ankle so I had to be ready. I was raring to go. It looked a bit slow in the first half so I wanted to bring some energy. We brought that. The first half was a bit cagey but we knew if we kept probing it would open up. In the end it was comfortable.
‘The reason why I’m still here is because of my mentality through all the injuries,’ he continued.
‘I keep going and I still believe in myself. My time will come and I will keep knuckling down and working for it.’
A regular in this FA Cup campaign, the 26-year-old will hope to start the Wembley showpiece next month. For the second time in history, the same two teams who competed in the League Cup final will contest the FA Cup final, and Loftus-Cheek is targeting blue ribbons on the trophy this time around.
‘We want to get them back, it’s as simple as that. It was a fantastic game in the other final, it could have gone either way, so we look forward to that and look forward to getting our revenge.
‘I always want to win trophies and I always want to be a big part of it as well. I feel like I’ve played a lot in this FA Cup run, who knows what will happen in the final, but I will be ready for it.’