After signing for Chelsea for nearly £31m during the summer of 2006, Andriy Shevchenko was expected to strengthen a side that had already won back-to-back Premier League titles.
However, it was away from the league that owner Roman Abramovich sought dominance, and the Ukrainian forward was considered as one of the final pieces of the jigsaw as the club targeted the Champions League.
Shevchenko played his part in the run to the semi-finals, scoring important goals against Porto and Valencia respectively, but on this day in 2007, the AC Milan legend had arguably his finest moment in a Chelsea shirt in an FA Cup quarter-final replay against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane after the initial fixture had ended 3-3.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho included Shevchenko alongside Didier Drogba and Shaun Wright-Phillips in attack, but there was an unfamiliar look to the defence, with Lassana Diarra starting at right-back.
As for Spurs, goalkeeper Paul Robinson started two days after hitting the headlines for his 80-yard goal against Watford in the Premier League while Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov were handed responsibility in the final third.
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Unlike the first match where both teams showed plenty of ambition going forward, the first half of the replay provided a lack of goalmouth action, with Spurs failing to force a save out of Petr Cech, and Chelsea being restricted to long-range efforts from Wright-Phillips and Michael Ballack.
After the restart, Spurs improved to force Cech into two interventions to deny Pascal Chimbonda and Steed Malbranque an opening goal, but 10 minutes into the second half the game was ignited by a spectacular finish from Shevchenko, who finally reminded English football of the talents that he displayed during his years at the San Siro.
After being released down the right flank, Shevchenko bided his time before cutting inside Malbranque to move the ball onto his left foot. Despite facing a narrow angle, he then arrowed a stunning effort into the far top corner for his 13th goal of the season.
The strike silenced the home crowd, and six minutes later things went from bad to worse for the North London outfit when Wright-Phillips doubled Chelsea's advantage.
A long ball was chested into the direction of Wright-Phillips by Drogba, and the winger drilled a left-foot volley across Robinson and into the bottom corner.
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Spurs boss Martin Jol immediately threw on Jermain Defoe to join Berbatov and Keane in attack, and 15 minutes later the threat of the trio paid off when Berbatov was felled by Ricardo Carvalho, who was fortunate not to be sent off for a professional foul.
Nevertheless, Keane put away the spot kick to set up a nervy 10 minutes that would see Chelsea seemingly content to hold on to their lead.
Unlike in the first match when Chelsea netted twice in the closing stages, there would be no dramatic fightback from the hosts, and the Blues were able to secure their progress through to the last four.
They went on to defeat Blackburn Rovers after extra time in the semis before lifting the FA Cup in similar circumstances against Manchester United in the final at Wembley Stadium.
SPURS XI: Robinson, Chimbonda, Young-Pyo Lee, Dawson, Rocha, Lennon, Zokora, Jenas, Malbranque, Berbatov, Keane
Subs: Cerny, Stalteri, Ghaly, Huddlestone, Defoe
CHELSEA XI: Cech, Diarra, Ashley Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Wright-Phillips, Lampard, Ballack, Mikel, Shevchenko, Drogba
Subs: Cudicini, Ferreira, Boulahrouz, Robben, Kalou
Darren Plant
