Thomas Tuchel 'could not be more excited' to face Liverpool in FA Cup final

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he is 'very proud' to reach his second FA Cup final in as many seasons.

Tuchel led his side to victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon in the semi-finals of the competition, with second-half strikes from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount getting them over the line after an underwhelming start.

The victory sets up a meeting with Liverpool on Saturday 14 May, after the Reds beat Manchester City 3-2 on Saturday. It will be the second time that the two teams will meet in a domestic final this term, with the Reds winning the Carabao Cup on penalties at the expense of Chelsea back in February.

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."

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Tuchel was particularly pleased with how his team dealt with fatigue against Palace, with the Blues playing an incredible amount of football already this season.

"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 German reserved special praise for Loftus-Cheek, who sparked the game into life with wondrous first-half goal.

"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."

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