‘we need to Shake off final Blues’

Mike Walters

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DJORDJE PETROVIC called on Chelsea’s “new generation” to lift themselves for tomorrow night’s win-or-bust FA Cup clash with Leeds. The Blues keeper did not deserve to finish on the losing side in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final debacle against Liverpool after his miraculous save to keep out Harvey Elliott’s header just moments before Virgil van Dijk’s late winner. Petrovic’s form has been good enough to keep £25million summer signing Robert Sanchez on the bench, but his first taste of Wembley was heartbreak.

Now Mauricio Pochettino’s worldclass under-achievers must prepare for an FA Cup tie with a rich history going back to the brutal 1970 final.

Defeat would be unthinkable for a club whose last trophy was the 2021 Champions League triumph against Manchester City in Porto.

Petrovic (left) said: “The feeling is very painful. It was a first final for a lot of us, also here at Wembley.

“The atmosphere was amazing and we really felt the Chelsea supporters with us. We must use this feeling because this is a new generation and we want to keep the success of this club. We are not happy and it hurts.

“We left everything on the pitch. The team put in a lot of effort and we had a lot of opportunities.

“We hit the post, and we had chances to maybe kill the game but we couldn’t do it.

“Then we concede the very goal late and that one detail changes everything as we don’t have time to stop them lifting the trophy.

“Now we have to get our heads up and think about Wednesday against Leeds as that is an important game.”