It is the quarter-final stage this weekend but our FA Cup tie against Everton cannot help but stir memories of our manager’s previous meeting with the Merseysiders in this competition.

The FA Cup final in 2009 was unusually late in May and the weather was befitting the start of summer. It was sunshine almost all the way for Chelsea that day as we recovered strongly from conceding a goal so early it even beat Roberto Di Matteo’s never-to-be-forgotten strike as the FA Cup final’s fastest.

By the end of the afternoon, Hiddink was celebrating with his players the capturing on a major piece of silverware to end his first spell in charge here. But what are his most-cherished memories of the day? How did it go for him on a personal level? These are questions asked by the official Chelsea website as his current team prepare to face Everton again.

‘What I liked very much and also in the semi-final against Arsenal at Wembley, was when we were on the bus on the way to the stadium, you saw all the fans integrated, walking on the street in their shirts which was for me amazing,’ Hiddink recalls.

‘I am from a country where the fans are separated by fences and here they were not and for me, this is real football. The teams are competing in old rivalries and the fans have their preferences of course but they are walking together. That is how it should be.’

Hiddink turns his thoughts to the game itself.  

‘We were 1-0 down, surprisingly we got caught very early but the team reacted with confidence because they were not panicking, not thinking it is a final and it is slipping away. They played as they were used to playing in other big games in the FA Cup and in the Champions League, so they were confident to restore this and we did. Didier Drogba scored with a header and then Frank Lampard with a left-foot shot. We also had a shot from Florent Malouda which might have been in but was not rewarded.