‘Brilliant’… Alan Shearer singles out £14m Chelsea man for praise after EFL Cup final defeat

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In what was an incredibly frustrating afternoon for Chelsea against Liverpool today, Alan Shearer was impressed with one player. 

Mauricio Pochettino saw his Chelsea side play well at times, coming so close to a winner in regular time through Christopher Nkunku.

However, when extra-time arrived, it seemed as if the Chelsea players simply lost all of their attacking impetus.

And if Chelsea were slightly lucky to watch Virgil van Dijk’s header ruled out during the 90 minutes, there was no such luck towards the end of the game.

That being said, the final will mostly be remembered for being a game when neither side could take their chances for large periods.

And whilst that was the case, that probably isn’t giving enough credit to the goalkeepers at either end.

Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher received a lot of praise during the match, but Djordje Petrovic deserved similar.

And when covering the game for the BBC Radio 5, Alan Shearer singled out the Chelsea goalkeeper for a fantastic save that denied Liverpool late on.

Alan Shearer couldn’t believe a save Djordje Petrovic made for Chelsea against Liverpool

Shearer praised Petrovic for a save he made in the 116th minute to deny Harvey Elliott’s header, admitting he wasn’t sure how the ball didn’t go in.

He said: “I don’t know how Chelsea kept that out. It’s a brilliant ball from [Kostas] Tsimikas and he finds Elliott a brilliant save. It comes back out but Chelsea do just enough.”

Of course, Petrovic’s efforts were eventually in vein, but the performance still bodes well.

The £14m deal to bring the 24-year-old to Chelsea does now look a clever one, a player who looks every bit as good as Robert Sanchez.

And with Sanchez now back fit, it will be intriguing to watch the duo fight for the number one spot.

But as Shearer will probably agree, it seems as if Petrovic deserves to keep his spot for Chelsea given his Liverpool showing today.

That being said, it seems Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t so happy with one individual performance.