Xabi Alonso says Chelsea 'played with courage' despite Carabao Cup shootout exit at Liverpool

Xabi Alonso insists Chelsea 'played with courage' at Anfield, even as a 6-5 penalty shootout defeat to Liverpool ended their Carabao Cup run in the fourth round.

The tie finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Morgan Rogers and Cody Gakpo both scoring from the spot in normal time. In the shootout, both sides missed penalties to win it, until the third round of sudden death, when Liverpool finally edged it. Liverpool will host Bournemouth in the quarter-finals.

Chelsea also had to cope with an injury to Maxence Lacroix, while striker Emmanuel Emegha came off the bench for his debut only to see his penalty saved in the shootout. Wesley Fofana missed the decisive kick, blazing high over the bar,

Defeat follows a disappointing loss to Tottenham in the Premier League at the weekend, but Alonso insisted he saw positives from his team.

"For sure, the outcome is not what we wanted," Alonso said after the game.

"It's not what we expected before the game. Once you reach penalties, there's going to be a sad side.

"It is us in this case, but I have to say that during the game we have played at a very good competitive level, it was a good performance. We showed an improvement, I would say. That's what we wanted.

"We played with courage. The game was really close, it could have gone either way. There were not many chances for both sides and we have tried to overcome difficult moments as well, like Max's [Lacroix] injury."

The Chelsea boss had sympathy for Emegha. "It's hard to make your debut with that moment that could mean everything for him, for us," he said.

"But it is about learning from all the experiences, even like today when it was a sad one. And I said it myself, as soon as we get on the bus, I move on, I think about United."

Chelsea host Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday at 12.30pm, and Alonso was encouraged by how goalkeeper Mike Penders responded, after an error in the Tottenham loss.

"He looked really solid with good composure, like he had dealt well with Saturday," he said. "That is what it takes in this job to overcome difficult situations and he did quite well.

"It's a small setback but we need to move on. As soon as we leave Anfield, our focus is Saturday's Premier League game."