By ROB BEASLEY
But the Blues striker reckons the 49th-minute wonder strike was nothing special for him against Alex Ferguson’s side.
After his goal had booked another Wembley trip for Chelsea, Ba shrugged and said: “I’ve scored similar goals for Newcastle against them.”
Ba was on target when Toon beat United 3-0 in January last year and Fergie remembered: “He scored exactly the same type of goal against us for Newcastle.
“He just stretched out the leg and caught us napping really.”
Ba’s strike now tees up a semi-final showdown with Manchester City but the Blues also owed much to keeper Petr Cech.
The Czech international pulled off an astounding save to deny Javier Hernandez an equaliser.
Cech beamed: “It was a great ball into the box and I just went as fast as I could and let my left arm do the job.
“Luckily I was able to reach it.”
Now Cech reckons Chelsea can go all the way yet again as they look to win the FA Cup for the fifth time in six years.
He added: “We know there is only one way to win the Cup.
“We love Wembley, we respect the FA Cup as a whole and we always want to win it.”
United boss Ferguson added: “You have to say Cech’s save from Chich-arito was unbelievable.
“I think if we had got that goal then we would have been OK.
“It would have brought us right back into the game.”
So United’s poor record in the Cup continues with just two losing appearances in the final in the last eight years. They last won the Cup in 2004.
But Fergie is now setting his sights on claiming a 20th league title.
He insisted: “We will kick on.
“It was disappointing today, of course, but we have to forget all about it and move on to the game against Manchester City next Monday.
“We are in a good position and a positive result for us on Monday will just about seal it.”
But Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole will be out for at least a fortnight after limping off with a hamstring injury.
Blues boss Rafa Benitez, who is trying to steer his side through a run of six games in 16 days, said: “This kind of injury is at least two weeks.
“That means 20 games or something for us.”
Cole looks certain to at least miss Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final with Rubin Kazan and Sunday’s league match at home to Sunderland.
