Essugo’s initial start to life at Chelsea couldn’t have gone much better. After joining from Sporting Lisbon at the start of June, the 20-year-old made his debut just two weeks later against Los Angeles FC in our opening match of the Club World Cup.

The Portugal Under-21 international impressed during his second outing against ES Tunis and would also make a third substitute appearance in the quarter-final win over Palmeiras.

Just six weeks after joining the club, Essugo was a world champion and went on to be in our matchday squad for the first three matches of the Premier League season.

But then he suffered a thigh injury on international duty at the start of September which required surgery and would rule him out for the next four months.

Essugo returned to the matchday squads for our games with Charlton Athletic and Arsenal in mid-January but then suffered another set-back and had to wait until last night for his return.

‘Of course, it is a very good feeling because it was a very tough moment,’ Essugo said. ‘At a new club, a new experience, but for me, it's very good to be back.

‘Since the first day I got the injuries I had, I’ve had to wait but now I'm back and I feel very good.’

Chelsea had to twice come from behind against Wrexham to finish the initial 90 minutes at 2-2, and the game almost went to penalties when the Championship side thought they had scored deep into injury-time only for VAR to rule it out.

Essugo came on for Romeo Lavia on 65 minutes and one of the positives of the game going into extra-time was the energetic midfielder was able to bank an additional half an hour of game time.

He said: ‘It feels very good, it's a good feeling. It was a tough game. They are a very good team, but we won and it's perfect for us.

‘The FA Cup is very tough. You have to be prepared because every team is very tough, and this is what the FA Cup is about.’

Essugo wasted no time in making his mark, as he expertly crossed for Alejandro Garnacho to put us 3-2 up early into injury-time and he ended the match with two assists as he passed to Joao Pedro for his classy finish late on.

Not that Essugo is concerned about personal plaudits.

He said: ‘It is very good to help the team to win. But it's football, you know? This (the cross for Garnacho) is not the most important thing for me, it is most important to help the team and that's it.

‘It was very tough because we were losing, but we won and that is the most important thing.’

Chelsea have nine games left of the Premier League campaign, as we look to secure qualification for next season’s Champions League, a competition we harbour hopes of winning this year, with the Blues taking on Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16, starting with the first leg on Wednesday.

And Essugo can’t wait to help the club battle on all three fronts, adding: ‘We have some very good games going forward and we are very excited to go into these games.’