In a repeat of February’s Carabao Cup final, we suffered a painful shoot-out defeat to the Reds at Wembley in the FA Cup final after 120 minutes of tense football in which neither side could find the breakthrough.

Our captain admits he and his team-mates are hurting after the loss, but there is nothing they can do but accept it and move on.

‘It’s difficult. Of course we’d liked to have had a different result and we are disappointed to lose,’ he said. ‘When we arrived at the penalty shoot-out we tried to do the best we can. We were ready for it. Unfortunately this time it didn’t happen again.

‘It’s football. It’s hard to take but somehow you have to resolve the game and in the last two games on penalties we were not on the winning side.’

Azpilicueta saw his effort in the shoot-out hit the post and go wide, before Mason Mount had his shot saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson in sudden death, allowing Kostas Tsimikas to score the decisive penalty.

While conceding that brings additional pain to himself and Mount, he insists there is no blame placed on the 23-year-old, reiterating responsibility is shared and that they win as a team and lose as a team, while predicting his younger team-mate will have plenty more opportunities to lift trophies at Wembley in the future.

‘I missed my penalty as well so it’s not Mason. We are all together here. When we make the list, we all feel confident that we want to shoot. This time it happens and I’m sure Mason will have a lot more times, he’s still a young player.

‘It’s part of football. It’s true that sometimes it looks painful, but of course we are the first ones who are hurt. We want to do our best, we want to score the penalty, we want to make our fans happy. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and we have to put our heads up and go for the next one.’

The shoot-out further underlined just how fine the margins were between victory and defeat in another closely contested final. After both sides had hit the woodwork in 90 minutes, Azpilicueta saw his penalty stay out off the post, immediately followed by Liverpool’s Thiago scoring while hitting the opposite upright, in addition to Edouard Mendy getting fingertips to two of our opponents’ scored penalties.

‘We expected a tight game. The last games we have played against Liverpool have been draws. We knew that we would have our chances, they are a team that create a lot as well, and sometimes you need to get the momentum, but we didn’t cross the line to win the game.

‘We got over the line in the Champions League, in the Club World Cup, in the Super Cup against Villarreal. It’s the highest level, it’s a fine line where two centimetres can decide if it goes off the post and out or off the post and in. Sometimes it’s like this.

‘It’s difficult to describe because I think in football the level is higher and higher so the margins are shorter and every detail counts. Of course it hurts when you come to penalties after such a big two games that we played against them in finals and to lose.’

Azpilicueta further admitted it is hard to stay upbeat in the aftermath of such a painful loss, but feels if we can finish the job in the Premier League over the next week to secure Champions League qualification, we will be able to look back at a campaign which saw us lift two trophies in a more positive light with the benefit of hindsight.

‘Today we feel bad,’ added the Blues skipper. ‘We got two trophies this season, the Club World Cup and the Super Cup, which we have to appreciate as well. It was the first time winning the Club World Cup in the history of the club, the first Super Cup since many years ago.

‘But of course, when you arrive here and you lose two finals you are disappointed. Now we have two games, six points, to finish third, but today I see everything negative.’