Mauricio Pochettino says his Chelsea players must feel the pain of defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final and use it as motivation ‘to do things better and improve’ going forward.

Virgil van Dijk’s late header in extra time settled the destination of the trophy in what was Pochettino’s first final as Chelsea head coach. The Blues had arguably the better of the chances over the course of a closely fought 120 minutes, but were denied by a combination of the offside flag, Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, and the woodwork.

It ultimately wasn’t to be for Chelsea at Wembley once again, but Pochettino hopes his players will use the frustration and disappointment felt to improve over the remainder of the campaign.

“They are professional,” said Pochettino, adding: “Now we need to move forward, but they need to feel the pain. When you’re playing for a trophy, nothing you can say will make them feel better. They need to realise that we need to work, we need to do things better and improve.

“To compete at this level, you need to feel what it means to play for a big trophy. I remember that after three or four years [under Jurgen Klopp] Liverpool had lost the Europa League final and lost the Champions League final.

“But they kept believing in their project and got stronger each season until they got what they wanted. That is a good example and if we want to challenge a team like Liverpool, we need to keep believing, that is the most important thing.”