Lallana: Defeat must inspire Reds to European glory
Adam Lallana insists Liverpool must use the heartbreak of losing to Manchester City in the Capital One Cup final as the springboard to bring glory to Anfield in the Europa League.
The Reds will face arch-rivals Manchester United over two legs in the last-16 in Europe, and the England man believes the pain of a penalty shootout defeat to Manuel Pellegrini’s men must act as a catalyst for better things ahead.
“I’m just gutted for the rest of the lads and the manager because we put a lot of hard work into it and losing on penalties isn’t nice,” Lallana told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We are still in the Europa League so hopefully that will give us even more incentive to push on and do well in that competition.
“A few words were said after the game, not many, but the few words was that we have got to push on now in the Europa League.
"We have got a great fixture against Manchester United to look forward to which is massive, the fans will love that, we love that and we have just got to pick ourselves up and go again.”
Reflecting on the Wembley loss, Lallana felt every Liverpool player gave their all on the day and said defeat was very hard to comprehend.
He added: “To come so close to winning a trophy and going out on penalties is always tough to take. We won a couple of penalty shootouts on the run to this final and you can’t win them all.
“We felt we were in the game throughout normal time and in extra-time and going to penalties obviously it can go either way.
“Unfortunately, myself, Phil [Coutinho] and Lucas missed our penalties and we are disappointed because of that.
“I’m sure we would all go again and put our hands up to take another penalty if the opportunity comes, but it’s just disappointing the emotion that is in the dressing room, to come so close to winning a first bit of silverware for the season under the new manager.
“Everyone gave everything and we worked so hard to try and win.
“When it went to extra-time I thought we looked fit and I thought we could have got the goal. Simon [Mignolet] did keep us in it but we always looked like we were going to score, but credit to Manchester City. They played well and they had a few chances and Simon kept us in it, so credit to them.”