Niko Kranjcar is relishing his return to Wembley for Portsmouth in tomorrow's FA Cup semi-final six months after his goal helped end England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.

The Croatian, who was also on target with a superb strike for his country in a friendly against Scotland at Hampden Park last month, sent an early shot skidding through the grasp of rookie England goalkeeper Scott Carson on a horrible pitch at the new stadium in November.

That contributed to a 3-2 defeat for Steve McClaren's shamed troops - leaving England devastated in the pouring rain and without a place in the European Championships this summer.

But Kranjcar, 23, is looking forward to those finals himself after a season in which he has finally established himself as a key Pompey performer on the left of midfield.

And he would love to take an FA Cup winners' medal along with him to Austria and Switzerland as he prepares for the last-four tie against West Brom.

He recalled: "It was a great day for me and a great day for Croatian football. We came to prove the point that we could compete with the best and we did that.

"The goal I scored against Scott Carson is also a great memory although not, obviously, for Scott and Steve McClaren. But, of course, I'm looking forward to going there again.

"Hopefully, the pitch is a bit better now than it was then.

"But the most important thing is still the same - that the team gives a very good performance and gets into the final.

"You don't need anyone to motivate you for games like this. You just step on the turf at Wembley and you know it is being played at probably one of the best stadiums in the world."

Roles are reversed now with gifted Kranjcar, a £2.5million signing from Hajduk Split last season, turning out for favourites Pompey against Championship promotion-hopefuls West Brom.

He admitted: "I think people naturally say that we are favourites because we are the Premier League team but the players know it is an FA Cup game - and they know what happened to Chelsea and Liverpool against Barnsley.

"We know we have to be on top of our form to get the win and get into the final. If we stay focused there shouldn't be a lot of problems.

"Personally I don't know too much about West Brom but it is up to us as the favourites to set the pace and show that, yes, we are the quality team

"You play football for these sort of moments and this sort of trophy which is one of the biggest there is around the world.

"Hopefully it will be a good summer for me. Priorities? To have a European Championship winners' medal, of course, but the FA Cup is massive too.

"When you come to Pompey you don't expect to win a national title but you do hope you can have a good run of cup games and have a chance to win a trophy.

"When I first came I had to settle and adjust but having a run of games and the encouragement of a manager like Harry Redknapp gives you confidence and I'm happy with my form. This is what I dreamed of when I first came here.

"We've all got our dreams. We want to finish high in the league and win a trophy. Hopefully, we won't let ourselves down."

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