{"id":8154,"date":"2026-04-26T17:03:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8154"},"modified":"2026-04-26T17:03:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:03:39","slug":"steven-gerrard-makes-bold-claim-over-60-million-chelsea-star-after-fa-cup-win-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8154","title":{"rendered":"Steven Gerrard makes bold claim over \u00a360 million Chelsea star after FA Cup win | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\"Manchester\t<\/div>
Steven Gerrard was impressed with Joao Pedro\u2019s display against Leeds United (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steven Gerrard singled Joao Pedro out for praise after Chelsea booked their place in next month\u2019s FA Cup final after a 1-0 win over Leeds United at Wembley. <\/p>\n

The Brazil international returned to the starting line-up after he missed the recent defeats against Manchester United and his former club Brighton. <\/p>\n

A run of five successive Premier League defeats without scoring, ultimately, cost Liam Rosenior his job and catapulted Calum McFarlane back into the spotlight.<\/p>\n

The interim head coach, who took charge of two matches back in January following Enzo Maresca\u2019 shock exit, benefited from the return to fitness of Pedro who led the line with distinction.<\/p>\n

Skipper Enzo Fernandez proved the matchwinner with a 23rd minute header, but it was the performance of Chelsea\u2019s \u00a360million summer recruit that really stood out for Gerrard. <\/p>\n

\u2018He was a great focal point today,\u2019 the former Liverpool skipper told TNT Sport. \u2018He\u2019s a lovely mover with the ball. <\/p>\n

\u2018Remember in the second half when Cucurella wrapped one in and you\u2019re thinking as a centre forward thanks for that, it\u2019s coming in neck high and his first touch was absolutely beautiful. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Chelsea\t<\/div>
Joao Pedro led the line superbly for Chelsea (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018I think Chelsea look a different team with him in and he made a big difference today.\u2019<\/p>\n

Those sentiments were echoed by Gerrard\u2019s former England teammate, Joe Cole, who claimed Leeds didn\u2019t know how to handle the Chelsea striker. <\/p>\n

He said: \u2018He plays with that flair, I loved him today he was dropping off in the pockets. He did his centre forward job, he held up the play and when he got into good positions he was picking the right passes. <\/p>\n

\u2018They didn\u2019t know whether to go with him when he got into the pockets, he ran in behind. He was such a problem for Leeds and when he\u2019s on song you can see the influence. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Chelsea\t<\/div>
Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal in Chelsea\u2019s FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018He\u2019s been out the team and we\u2019ve looked a bit off it. When he\u2019s in the team it\u2019s so much more balanced.\u2019<\/p>\n

It was also a reputation enhancing afternoon for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez who made two match defining saves either side of Fernandez\u2019s goal. <\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s amazing,\u2019 said the Spain international. \u2018The boys reacted in the way they should have. <\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve tried to keep everyone positive in training and it\u2019s the chance to be in another final. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve been working for and it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m happy. I always try to do my job. We go through ups and downs. I\u2019m very happy about the season I\u2019ve had but it\u2019s about ending it on a high. Four Premier League games to go and a final.\u2019<\/p>\n

On what McFarlance has added in such a short space of time, he added: \u2018Keep it positive and focus on the next games. We said six games to go and it\u2019s on us to try and win the final.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Who is Calum McFarlane? Chelsea interim manager in charge for the rest of the season<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Chelsea make transfer decision as Premier League club target Nicolas Jackson<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Antoine Semenyo out of Man City squad as Pep Guardiola explains FA Cup selection<\/span><\/p>\n
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Steven Gerrard makes bold claim over \u00a360 million Chelsea star after FA Cup win | Football
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#Steven #Gerrard #bold #claim #million #Chelsea #star #Cup #win #Football<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven Gerrard was impressed with Joao Pedro\u2019s display against Leeds United (Picture: Getty) Steven Gerrard…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2317,363,729,2287,317,1808,50,541,1807,1349],"class_list":["post-8154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bold","tag-chelsea","tag-claim","tag-cup","tag-football","tag-gerrard","tag-million","tag-star","tag-steven","tag-win"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987.jpg",1200,630,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-768x403.jpg",640,336,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-1024x538.jpg",640,336,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987.jpg",1200,630,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987.jpg",1200,630,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-1024x538.jpg",1024,538,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273084720_1777221987-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Sports<\/a>","tag_info":"Sports","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}