The Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final is an occasion not many players get to experience and it’s very much the pinnacle of the EFL calendar.
The adrenaline, the noise, the atmosphere - and 90,000 supporters inside Wembley Stadium.
The carrot of the Premier League at the forefront of your mind. It’s the game where dreams can be achieved.
It is occasions like these that you get into football, according to central defender Richard Keogh.
Now in his seventh season with Derby County, the 32-year-old centre-back has experienced some big games as a player, but none come bigger than this one on Monday.
The defender, who is closing in on 350 appearances for Derby, has started every game under Frank Lampard this season and has been a consistent performer in a season where the Rams have had to show their resilience.
They booked their place in the Play-Offs on the final game of the regular season with victory over West Bromwich Albion and then progressed through to the Final following a dramatic 4-3 aggregate victory over Leeds United in the Semi-Final.
And Keogh cannot wait to step out at Wembley on Monday in one of the biggest spectacles.
“It is a big stage, if not one of the most watched games in football,” he told RamsTV.
“Everyone labels it financially-wise, but in general everyone looks forward to this kind of game, the Championship Play-Off Final.
“You have got to try and treat it as normal as possible; that is easier said than done, but with the group we have got, I think we have shown we can handle the big stage.
“We have been to some big places this season and performed well. Every kid growing up, if you are Irish, you want to score the winner at Lansdowne Road, or the Aviva Stadium, if are English you want to score at Wembley. You dream of that as a youngster playing in your back garden.
“This is the moment that you are all in it for and this is why you work so hard. You want to play in big games and you want to play in big stadiums.
“I think it is just a great opportunity for us to go and show everyone what a great team we are.
“It is exciting and I think we have to use that excitement and that nervous energy that both teams are going to have. You have just got to embrace it and enjoy the challenge.”
