Sunday 21 February 2016 20:27, UK
Guus Hiddink was pleased to see Chelsea progress past Manchester City in the "beautiful" FA Cup after a 5-1 victory in the fifth round.
The Blues scored four times in the second half to see off a young City side at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening, booking a quarter-final tie against Everton at Goodison Park.
Several managers have called for a change to the format of the FA Cup to ease fixture congestion, and Manuel Pellegrini made nine changes for the match ahead of Champions League commitments, but Hiddink, who won the competition with Chelsea in 2009, believes it remains the "temple of football".
"I'm a foreigner but we must not forget the traditions of English football," Hiddink said. "Many people worldwide are focused on the FA Cup.
"I know as a youngster that on a Saturday I was watching it on TV. I don't like to go into words that are not normal but it's the temple of football. The FA Cup is beautiful worldwide so we must be careful not to devalue this."
Diego Costa opened the scoring for Chelsea, only for David Faupala to equalise less than two minutes later, but the Blues struck twice in five second-half minutes to put the game beyond City after the break.
They have now scored five times in back-to-back home matches, and Hiddink believes recent results have boosted the players' confidence.
"You win 5-1 last week, and you have another okay performance, no more than that, in Paris," he added. "Then today against Manchester City, we win 5-1 and it's a confidence boost for the players. It's good to see that.
"We knew that we would play against a team that makes some changes but it's not always easy with youngsters coming in not to get sloppy with our organisation, which we did when they got their equaliser.
"But we had a great reaction in the second half and the team did what it had to do. If you have the tactical discipline and organisation defensively, not to drop off but to do a high press, then automatically the quality of this team will come out.
"Step by step, with a little bit bigger steps recently, we're climbing in the league but there's not much left in the league for Chelsea, to be honest. It's about a very good reaction now from the team and to focus on the games in the other two leagues - the FA Cup and the Champions [League]."
And Hiddink admitted the tie against Everton, the side Chelsea beat in the 2009 final, brings back good memories.
"I have good memories of that time but that's the past," he continued. "I think some of them will remember that and they [may] go for their revenge.
"We had a difficult game against them here in one of my first games. We hope to maintain our flow when we play them over there because it's not easy."
