Xabi Alonso said it was “harsh” to see his Chelsea team lose on penalties to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. And the former Reds midfielder was left to rue the narrow margins after Andoni Iraola’s side advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-5 penalty shootout win on Wednesday night.

Cody Gakpo canceled out Morgan Rogers’ opener in the first half at Anfield, with both goals coming from the penalty spot, before the Reds won the shootout after Wesley Fofana struck the post. Reported by Liverpool Echo News.

It means Liverpool will now visit Bournemouth for a place in the semi-finals, and Alonso admits it was a difficult night.

“Every time you reach the penalties, someone will feel it is unfair to drop out of the competition,” he remarked. “It was very close from both sides. Penalties indicate an open-ended scope. They have played well enough to contend at Anfield. We conceded the penalty, and it was even. The game was quite tight for both teams.

“[Goalkeeper] Mike Penders has given a solid effort. We didn’t give up many chances, but he performed consistently and solidly. That was extremely important in the first half for us.

“The conclusion was definitely not what we had hoped for. It’s not what we expected before the game. You know that once you achieve the penalties, there will be a down side. This is us, in that scenario.

“But I would say that the game we played was quite competitive, with good performance. I believe we demonstrated an improvement. That’s exactly what we wanted.

“We don’t have much time to recover because the game is Saturday, early kick-off so we need to change the mindset quite quickly.”