Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount urges team to ‘achieve greatness’ in Champions League final

Manchester City await Mount and co after Thomas Tuchel’s side beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals

Mason Mount celebrates after sealing Chelsea’s semi-final win against Real Madrid (Getty Images)

Mason Mount has urged Chelsea to “achieve greatness” by overcoming favourites Manchester City to win the Champions League later this month.

Mount became the second-youngest Englishman to score in a Champions League semi-final as Chelsea eliminated 13-time winners Real Madrid on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old’s late goal rounded out a 2-0 second-leg victory at Stamford Bridge, for Chelsea to reach their first final since their 2012 triumph 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 29 May, 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. 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 out to put Chelsea into an early lead on Wednesday night, after Kai Havertz scooped 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.

But then – after 85 minutes – Mount turned in Christian Pulisic’s cross, sparking jubilant Chelsea celebrations.

Thomas Tuchel only took the Chelsea helm on 26 January, but Wednesday’s Madrid win became his side’s 19th clean sheet in 14 weeks.

The former Paris Saint-Germain coach has transformed the Blues from a muddled group after ex-boss Lampard’s exit into a water-tight and robust outfit.

And homegrown star Mount hailed the west Londoners’ team spirit.

Chelsea players celebrate during their second-leg win against Real Madrid (AFP via Getty Images)

“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.

“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.”

Chelsea next take on City in the Premier League on Saturday, a matter of weeks after the Blues eliminated Guardiola’s side in the FA Cup semi-finals and just three weeks ahead of their meeting in the Champions League final.