Someone had to lose, and sadly that's Chelsea.
With all the disrespect the Carabao Cup competition gets as a trophy that no side really wants to win, that didn't play out in the stands, on the field or the touchline as both Champions League-winning squads fought into extra time then penalties.
Thomas Tuchel may rue his last-minute substitution, but his side played well enough to win the match in the 90 minutes with a good few clear-cut chances missed.
I can't help but walk away thinking the case on Chelsea attack is that much stronger. If the same chances came Liverpool's way, would they have scored them?
Good: World's number 1
In this tie, Tuchel made a correct decision in starting Edouard Mendy as he made a string of world-class saves to keep the score at 0-0.
I do believe if Mendy is in the sticks, he saves at least one of the penalties to help Chelsea win it. Sadly he couldn't cap that performance off with penalty shoot-out action as he kept his 40th clean sheet in a Chelsea shirt in just 74 appearances for the west London side. It's always a case of if buts and maybes, and sadly Chelsea are the side that has to think about them as Liverpool edged it.
Bad: Kepa regret
The redemption has been halted as Kepa Arrizabalaga blazes the 22nd penalty of the shoot-out over the bar after 21 consecutive shoot-out goals. The story felt too good to be true that he would come on with a minute remaining and save the crucial penalty to help us win the trophy. Instead, he ends up being a villain, and that's something he wouldn't have expected as he limbered himself up on the touchline before he came on.
Wembley has been nothing but bad luck for Kepa over the last few seasons. From his controversial decision to tell then-manager Maurizio Sarri, he wasn't coming off ahead of penalties to then go on to lose to Man City, then last summer when he played in the FA Cup final loss to Leicester ahead of Mendy.
I must go on to say that yes, it's now something Tuchel will likely regret this call, but at the time, I understood it.
Kepa is a huge reason the side got to the final after penalty shoot-out heroics against Aston Villa and Southampton and played in all the games leading up to the final.
It does hurt again because now, in hindsight, I say you keep your better goalkeeper on.
Kepa isn't going to get all the blame and reason Chelsea lost. The side missed a handful of clear cut chances that we should have scored. This point could have easily been my bad choice after poor decision making or being offside, but the last kick of the game ended up being Kepa, and we can't forget he came on for a goalkeeper playing brilliantly.
Ugly: VAR
The match was a brilliant one to watch, and if you missed the match and saw the full-time goalless scoreline, you would think it was boring. It wasn't. We had ruled out offside goals, a lot of handbag pushing and a hell of a lot of shushing going on.
Just like past seasons when we've played at Wembley, we walk away in defeat but with decisions to be frustrated about.
The controversial moments in the previous two FA Cup finals sprang to mind when Mateo Kovacic was sent off for being fouled, then Youri Tielemans handball just before scoring. We walk away with yet another as Naby Keita kung-fu kicks Trevoh Chalobah in the parts you don't want to be studded. VAR had a look and deemed it fine with no further action, just like the incident in the first half when his arm across Mason Mounts's face was deemed okay as Liverpool won themselves a free-kick.
It's always a tough loss to take in a final, especially when it's against a rival like Liverpool on penalties, but I can accept it after picking up the Super Cup and Club World Cup this season. This trophy was below both of them on my wish list, and I won't be telling my grandchildren about any Carabao Cup final wins when I'm older, so Thomas Tuchel and the squad must move on and focus on the next prize.
The Blues have no time to let this defeat on penalties go round in their heads as they prepare for a FA Cup match against Luton at Kenilworth Road on Wednesday.
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