Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino felt the fading of senior players of Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher made the difference in their Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool.

Pochettino says the lack of energy of the pair late on influenced the game.

He explained: "Of course it was difficult. Sometimes some experience and leadership on the pitch helps, but after it is frustrating.

"The players feel the disappointment because we were so close to winning the game in 90 minutes and we started to lose the energy, and some players like Conor or Chilly start to feel really tired and we need to use maybe different players to go in and help.

"But we cannot say nothing because the effort was massive, I am happy with the effort. It is only about believing and we didn't get the goal that we wanted.

"We made a few changes with Conor and Chilly coming off in extra time, but it's true that we didn't keep the energy of how we finished the second half. But for sure I feel proud of the players, they made a big effort."