WEMBLEY STADIUM MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

Mason always looked up to Luiz as a starstruck kid.. now the England starlet’s all grown up and can’t wait to get to grips with him at Wembley

MASON MOUNT spent several years looking up to David Luiz during their time together at Chelsea.

But today at Wembley he hopes to be looking down on him from the dizzy heights of becoming an FA Cup winner for the first time in his blossoming career.

As he came through the academy at Stamford Bridge, Mount admits to being starstruck whenever he saw Brazil international Luiz.

They became friends and Luiz would offer the teenage wannabe advice that he hoped would help him make it to the top.

Luiz might have since left the Blues to join London rivals Arsenal but they have remained good friends.

Mount, 21, said: “He was always brilliant with the younger boys coming through the academy.

“I’ve a picture with him when I was probably about 13.

“He would come over and watch us play and train and he was always brilliant with the younger boys. I always looked up to him.

“You know David, he’s a very jokey character. He would come over and have a laugh with the younger boys.

“For us, seeing him come over, it was obviously someone we all look up to. All I wanted to do was go and say hello and speak with him and have a laugh with him.

“That’s what he did. It makes you feel very comfortable being around the first-team players.

“He has loads of experience so for me, as a younger player, speaking with him and being around him I learned so much. I get on very well with David.

“It was a memory that will stick with me for a long time. I was a bit starstruck and nervous.”

Luiz didn’t hang around long enough to witness and experience Mount’s rapid rise to becoming a Blues superstar and England international.

The defender swapped Stamford Bridge for the Emirates last summer and since then Mount has taken the chance to establish himself as one of the most talented prospects in English football.

Mount, who travelled to Wembley with his dad in 2008 to watch his beloved Portsmouth beat Cardiff and lift the FA Cup, said: “When I came back in pre-season I was speaking to David. He’s played for some of the best clubs in the world.

He’s scored in a World Cup. We speak now and again. I think the last time he messaged me was after a win or when I scored and he said, ‘Well done, keep it going.’ But I’m looking forward to facing him.”

Mount’s breakthrough season has seen him make 51 appearances and score eight goals.

But it hasn’t always been plain sailing for Mount, who was the victim of Frank Lampard’s ruthless streak when he was hooked at half time during the quarter-final win over Leicester. In the semi-final Mount was back to help the Blues sink Manchester United with a second-half goal.

Mount admits Chelsea boss Lampard can be a hard to please but that the lesson was a valuable one.

He added: “One minute he can put his arm around you and tell you you have been doing well.

“Then if he doesn’t think you have he will take you off and you’ll know about it. He has definitely got that side to him and we’ve seen it.

“But he has given me a lot of confidence to go out and express myself and play my game.

“You can see that from a lot of the younger players this season.”