Liverpool defender Kolo Toure says that legendary captain Steven Gerrard was sad at being denied the fairytale ending at his boyhood club, but that he was more upset for the fans.
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A win at Wembley over against Aston Villa would have presented Liverpool and Gerrard with a chance to win the FA Cup on the midfielder’s last appearance for the club, which also happens to fall on his 35th birthday.
The Ivorian said that the whole team were probably more disappointed at the prospect of not being able to deliver a trophy to the Anfield faithful.
The Reds were unable to progress out of their Champions League group and lost out to Chelsea in the last four of the League Cup, the same stage at which they were defeated by Aston Villa.
Quoted in The Daily Mail, Toure said, “You feel bad. It is always difficult when you lose a semi-final like that. The defeat is the thing. Of course we wanted to do very well for the last game of Stevie for the club but at the end of the day, we wanted to do it for the fans because this club deserves to have a trophy.
“He (Gerrard) is fine. Of course he is sad, like all the dressing room, but he has been in this game for a long time and he knows how to deal with these situations.”
Gerrard started the match at Wembley, due to an injury to defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva which denied Liverpool the control in midfield they desperately needed.
The centre back believes the side should have been able to cope without the Brazilian though, “Lucas is a great player but we had players who could do the job.
“Collectively we were not very good. Villa really fought and gave everything to win the game.”
As a result of their FA Cup heartache, Brendan Rodgers has become Liverpool’s first manager since the 1950s not to have won a trophy in his first three years at Anfield.
Things don’t get better when the Reds look at the Premier League either, with Manchester City’s weekend victory putting them seven points clear of the Merseyside challengers in fifth.