Brendan Rodgers was upbeat despite his side’s Capital One Cup exit at the hands of Chelsea…
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has admitted that his side gave everything they could during their Capital One Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea…
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Rodgers also expressed his belief that his side were the better team over the two legs, but ultimately missed out after two excellent performances from Blues goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
The Northern Irishman certainly has a point. The Reds dominated the first leg at Anfield, where only the heroics of the Belgian stopper denied us taking a commanding lead back to Stamford Bridge.
As it was, the tie was evenly poised heading into the second leg – something that was always likely to prove dangerous – as Chelsea looked to respond to their 4-2 FA Cup mauling at home to Bradford City just three days earlier.
So it proved as Branislav Ivanovic scored the night’s only goal, four minutes into extra time, sending the hosts through 2-1 on aggregate.
Again, we had plenty of chances, with Alberto Moreno and Philippe Coutinho among those going close. We just couldn’t force the ball over the line – as the ongoing absence of star striker Daniel Sturridge continued to cost us.
Despite the result, Rodgers was upbeat and positive about his side’s stellar performance: “I think we were the better side over the two games, but ultimately you’ve got to get the place in the final,” he told Liverpool’s official website.
“I think the goalkeeper for them has won them the tie really. Performance-wise, we were outstanding. Again tonight, some of our play was very good and we created chances.
“There weren’t going to be many chances in the game for both sides, but certainly in the first half we created enough to maybe get a couple of goals.
“But their ‘keeper made some very good saves and ultimately, I think, has won them the tie.
“I sit here with pride. There’s disappointment we haven’t got through, but Chelsea arrived at the top of their game when they came to Anfield last week and we were outstanding and should have won that game.
“Tonight we were very, very good again. The learning for us is to make the next step – you saw a lot of young players out there working, and now we’ve got to make the next step and try to go on and win a trophy.”