Petr Cech relived the "best day" of his life after he became a father for the first time and took Chelsea to a Wembley cup final. The Czech Republic goalkeeper produced a stunning display to break the hearts of Everton in last night's Carling Cup semi-final second leg at Goodison Park.

The 25-year-old had a restless night as he waited anxiously in the team hotel for news of the birth of his new baby daughter back home in Prague.

After Chelsea's 1-0 win - to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory over Everton and set up a final against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on February 24 - Cech dedicated the triumph to his wife, Martina, and new daughter, Adela. "My last 24 hours have been unbelievable," Cech said. "Ahead of the game I was asleep well before midnight, but then I got a call from my wife at 1am to tell me the baby was coming.

"Then I realised I had an important game so I tried to get some sleep. But with all my emotions it was hard to sleep, I could not rest and if I got three hours sleep it was a lot.

"I was so proud of my wife. I really wanted to play in the game with Everton, I had lots of emotions during the game, we were playing well, everything was going fine, we scored a good goal and we won. I kept a clean sheet, and played a good game, it is one of the best days of my life."

Chelsea, who beat Arsenal in Cardiff last season to win the trophy for the second time in three seasons, completed the aggregate win over Everton thanks to a late goal from Joe Cole. "We want to keep the trophy and we have deserved to win the tie," Cech said. "We give great credit to Everton because they worked so hard, but we were really good in both legs.

"Everton is a difficult place. They have a quality squad and they throw everything at you. They were searching for the one goal to get them level, they were hoping for chances and good luck and giving everything. But we did a great job in defence, we stuck together and played well.

"We have already played at Wembley when we won the FA Cup last season, so it will be great to go back there to face Tottenham in this final. It will be a great occasion. The rivalry between Chelsea and Spurs is huge, and we will all be looking forward to it."