Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that his side deserved more from their 4-2 defeat to Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup this evening.
Spurs enjoyed the majority of the possession and were on top for long spells at Wembley, only for goals from Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic to send Chelsea into the final after Harry Kane and Dele Alli had earlier cancelled out a Willian brace.
The second of Willian's goals came from the spot, which Pochettino believes was a harsh decision, but the Argentine insists that he is still "proud" of the way his side played despite their defeat.
"Congratulations to Chelsea. We dominated the game but they were more clinical than us. I feel proud, we were fantastic in the way we played and in our philosophy. They had five shots and scored four goals and we score only two," he told reporters.
"It is important to speak about the moments of the game. We fought a lot. We tried and scored. The penalty for me was a soft penalty or was not a penalty. To go into the changing room 2-1 down was difficult and again we played well in the second half and scored but then they came back.
"Only now we can look forward. We are four points behind them and we will try to win our next game. I am not worried. The team is strong, we are focused. We were competing today with one of the best teams in Europe. Did we deserve more? Sure, but that is football.
"Now we will try to be calm, watch the game again and try to improve. We are in a process of trying to improve, if we cannot win the FA Cup this season we will try again next season. We have another difficult game coming up against Crystal Palace. It is a tough league to play but we are OK. For sure now we are disappointed but that is football."
Spurs have now lost a record seven consecutive FA Cup semi-finals, a run which stretches back to 1991.
Barney Corkhill
