In Blue heaven after roller coaster ride

SO much for reaching the semi-final of the Champions League without incident eh? Last week saw the game of the season and only Chelsea could attempt to throw away a foregone conclusion, not once, but twice during 90 minutes.

The myriad of emotions experienced by every supporter at the Bridge was extensive. I left the stadium exhausted but elated — having gone through fear, anger, belligerence, misery, hope, delight, ecstasy, rapture, depression, disbelief and, finally, bliss.

You have to give credit where credit is due — Benitez put the right side out and chose the right tactics and Liverpool gave us an almighty scare. But the boys kept their heads and, led in John Terry’s absence by the inspirational Frank Lampard, put in a special performance to break the hearts of the media hordes who were dying for a spectacular stumble by the enemies of football.

Cech continued with his bizarre form from the Bolton game to give both the back four and the Chelsea faithful a bad attack of the collywobbles, but, hopefully, this drew a line under his dip and he will return to the lofty position of being one of the best keepers in the world.

For me, it wasn’t even a case of reaching the semi-final that made me jig in an embarrassingly Wenger-like fashion at the final whistle — it was beating Liverpool. The rivalry now is such that if they had overturned our Anfield result it would have been devastating for our supporters — and we probably would have had to listen to another nauseatingly childish song for years to come.

Of course, by beating Liverpool we have set up a semi-final against favourites Barcelona and without Ashley Cole in the first leg the question is already being asked as to who will keep tabs on a certain Lionel Messi. No idea, but I bet that Hiddink has a plan and he hasn’t steered us far wrong recently so I am not going to worry about it.

As if the week couldn’t get any better, Saturday saw us put a 62-year-old albatross to rest by finally beating Arsenal in the Cup. The banter was surprisingly friendly on the trains on the way to the game with Chelsea fans helping their Arsenal counterparts find their way to this unfamiliar part of London. There was also a sense of confidence with most of the Chelsea fans, just as there seemed to be a lack of belief by the Gooners and even when we went 1-0 down, most of us were confident we could win the game.

Hiddink inspires that sort of belief and, after a lacklustre start, he made a few small changes and we began to take charge. He has given a new lease of life to Malouda. He has managed to get Drogba back to the player we saw under Mourinho and he has bought in the kind of management that makes you think that anything is possible. I shudder to think where we would be if we hadn’t of got rid of Scolari.

As great as the Liverpool and Arsenal games were, we must not get carried away as we have not yet won anything and in the case of the Champions League we will have to face our sternest test to date if we are to make it to Rome. As for the Cup final, we face a team and manager desperate to win some silverware and we cannot take anything for granted.

Tonight sees us take on Everton in a dress rehearsal for the FA Cup final with both clubs still needing the points for different reasons. We need to maintain the pressure on Liverpool, Arsenal and United and they want to maintain their UEFA Cup league position.

One of the many things I have liked about Hiddink is the fact that he has not chosen to play a weakened side in any competition and I hope as the stakes are ramped up even higher that he sticks to his guns. The team finally look a cohesive unit again and we seem to be getting stronger game by game. The Spurs game was a lesson in complacency and although devastating for our slim title chances, I think it has played its part in our performances since.

Hiddink will want to go out in a blaze of glory and the team seem to be hitting form just at the right time. But for this week at least I would like to bask in the glory of beating two of our biggest rivals and reaching yet another final. As someone who was inconsolable at the loss to United in 1994, this is just the stuff of fairytales. I thought that 1994 was my one chance to see Chelsea win the cup — I never thought the chance would come round again. Now I have seen them win it three times in a decade and reach other finals to boot. And the good times just keep coming.

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