Lucas: “Let’s fight, let’s work, let’s go for the next game”

Lucas Moura fell in love with the FA Cup back in 2018 – and he delivered again for us in the competition at Middlesbrough on Sunday.

For a player who has stepped onto the biggest stages in football, Lucas will never forget Rochdale’s Deepdale and a goal on his full debut in the fifth round of the competition on 18 February, 2018. That tie went to a replay that we won at Wembley and thanks to Lucas’ header at the Riverside, we’ll now meet Boro again in a replay at the new stadium next week.

“I remember Rochdale, that game will be in my heart forever, my first goal,” he said. “I’m happy to score again. It’s a good competition and we have an opportunity to win a trophy, so let’s fight, let’s work and I will give everything to win this competition.”

Lucas conceded we could have won as it ended 1-1 on Teesside. The statistics bear that out - 14-6 shots, 14 corners, 70% possession - but Boro, in-form and well-organised under the guidance of Jonathan Woodgate and Robbie Keane, stuck to their task.

However, we had to come from behind after Ashley Fletcher broke through to open the scoring for the home side on 50 minutes. Jose Mourinho made changes and a tactical switch five minutes later and we were level just after the hour via Lucas’ header from Serge Aurier’s cross.

Boro’s goalkeeper Tomas Mejias saved well from Lucas, Erik Lamela and Heung-Min Son before Serge blasted a late chance over.

“It was a tough game and the feeling is a bit bad, because we could win this game, we had the opportunities to score the second goal, but we fight on,” added Lucas.

“We know that in the last few games we’ve not been at our best and we need to improve some things, we know that. This was a good opportunity to win but at least we didn’t lose, we have the next game and let’s take this week to improve and work more.”