Chelsea broke the deadlock through Ruben Loftus-cheek in the 65th minute and then eleven minutes later doubled the lead courtesy of Mason Mount's strike.
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Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel admitted he is very proud about reaching his second consecutive FA Cup final. The German tactician led his side to a 2-0 victory in the Semi-final clash against Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. After a cagey first half, that saw both sides not able to find the back of the net, Ruben Loftus-Cheeks put the Blues ahead on 65 minutes. Eleven minutes later, Mason Mount doubled the lead to help his side book a meeting with Liverpool in the title-decider on 14 May.
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Chelsea are in the #EmiratesFACup final! ? pic.twitter.com/laLUCw8xj0
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 17, 2022
Speaking after the Palace win, Tuchel told ITV that he could not be more happy to be revisiting Wembley in May.
“I’m happy to be part of it again. I could not be more excited, more proud, because it’s a huge competition and to play another final at Wembley, I am very grateful. We will be ready.”
Tuchel was pleased with the way his team dealt with the fatigue of playing their third game in eight days time. The Blues managed to win 3-2 against Real Madrid in the mid-week Champions League fixture at Santiago Bernabeu but failed to qualify for the semi-final stage because of a 5-4 aggregate loss.
“It was not easy because we played three games in three different competitions. Very challenging physically, we are the team with the most minutes in Europe I think. And also mentally, to go to different competitions and to put the exit of the Champions League behind us,” he said.
“I thought the performance was very controlled, very serious. We took very good care of the counter-attacks before they could create counter-attacks – which is their biggest strength.”
The 48-year-old was full of praise for the goal-scorer Loftus-Cheek. The Englishman put his side ahead with a clean strike from the edge of the box. Lotus Cheek started on the bench and was introduced mid-way through the first half, because of injury to Mateo Kovacic.
“Excellent. He was very, very strong in matches against Southampton and Real Madrid and he would have deserved to start,” he said.
“But honestly, we expected a back four and a more classic wing-back position and we wanted to have our captain Azpi on the field. We knew we had Ruben with a big impact from the bench and I’m very happy with him at the moment.
“This is what he shows in training but I think he hid his talent and his potential for a long, long time in his career. He is capable of producing the performances that everybody sees when he’s on the pitch. For him especially it’s step by step and he continues to grow and is confident.”
