Cardiff City forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has revealed the pain he felt when his former club Middlesbrough lost in the final of the UEFA Cup, and admitted that nobody would've ever expected to see Cardiff in the final of the FA Cup, as they prepare to take on Portsmouth this weekend.

"I could only feel what might have been," he said. "It was very sad for all of us to end the season like that and fly back to England without the trophy. And for me I was thinking that perhaps this was my last chance of glory."

It wasn't. Hasselbaink has one final shot at the career-defining medal that has bafflingly always eluded him at Wembley this afternoon, and if it is possible that eyes can say anything at all, then those gleaming balls of intent that shone throughout this interview fairly screamed that this will be his moment. And Cardiff City's, too, of course.

"Listen, if you had said that we were going to go to the FA Cup final this year I would have punched you," said Hasselbaink. "I'm serious. I would have. The very least I would have done was say something nasty to you – 'Don't take the piss', or whatever. Nobody expected us to go this far, not even ourselves. I thought my only FA Cup chance was the one I had in 2002. It's just great. I'm sorry, I don't have the exact words for it."