Mason Mount has challenged Chelsea to “achieve greatness” by toppling favourites Manchester City to win the Champions League.
Mount became the second-youngest Englishman to score in a Champions League semi-final as Chelsea dumped Real Madrid out of the competition on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old’s late goal sealed the Blues’ 2-0 second-leg win at Stamford Bridge, for Chelsea to reach their first final since 2012 with a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Academy graduate Mount became the first English player to score in the Champions League’s last four since Frank Lampard in 2008, and the second-youngest behind Wayne Rooney in 2007.
Chelsea will now take on Pep Guardiola’s City in Istanbul on Saturday, May 29, and Mount is adamant the fast-developing Blues can lift the title in Turkey.
“We are in the Champions League final and we have got to finish it off,” said Mount. “We need to keep going and we can achieve greatness.
“It was a big two games to push through and beat this team, one of the best in the world, and we’ve done it.
“Now we need to do it again.
See you soon Istanbul! pic.twitter.com/bxyWgSRhBm
— Mason Mount (@masonmount_10) May 5, 2021
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“It’s not over, there’s one more game left.
“We are going to give it everything. We are going into it with full confidence, like we have with this whole road getting there.”
Timo Werner headed in from a yard to put Chelsea into an early lead on Wednesday night, after Kai Havertz has dinked the ball onto the crossbar.
Chelsea spurned a host of chances to cement their dominance over Zinedine Zidane’s Madrid and with each passing opportunity the nerves grew of a comeback from the visitors.
"We need to finish it off, one more game." 👊
Mason talks last night's #UCL victory and much more!— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 6, 2021
But then – after 85 minutes – Mount turned in Christian Pulisic’s cross, to spark jubilant Chelsea celebrations.
Thomas Tuchel only took the Chelsea helm on January 26, but Wednesday’s Madrid win became his side’s 19th clean sheet in 14 weeks.
Former Paris St Germain boss Tuchel has transformed the Blues from a muddled group after ex-boss Lampard’s exit into a water-tight and robust outfit.
And home grown star Mount hailed the west Londoners’ team spirit.
“It’s hard to put into words but it was a great performance,” Mount told Chelsea’s official club website. “It was a tough, tough game. We were brilliant.
“We worked hard, and we should have probably had about five!
“I should have had one 20 minutes before I scored, but the most important thing is we won.
“At 1-0 it didn’t matter because if they scored they were back in the game and we were going to extra-time.
One more step. 🤙 pic.twitter.com/6dhJPCLbDf
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 6, 2021
“To get that one late on, you could see from the celebrations it was a massive goal for us. It gave us some breathing space.
“As a team we give it everything. We are all just pushing, we are so close as a family, we get around each other.
“As a team we are so tight and we give each other that extra yard when someone is tired.
“We know what we can do, we know the group we have.”
Zidane: "I'm proud of my players and now we have to think about the league."#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/PrQjbGPYkk
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) May 6, 2021
Under-pressure Real boss Zidane hailed his players for their hard work in an unprecedented season, accepting Madrid were bested by the better side.
“We tried but Chelsea were the better team today, and you have to congratulate them,” said Zidane.
“But I also want to congratulate my players for what we’ve done this season in the Champions League.
“It’s not been easy and I’m very proud of my players.
“We gave it a go but it was not possible, we were up against a better team on the day.”
