Western Mail

Squad back Abraham after miss in shoot-out

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CHRISTIAN Pulisic said he and his Chelsea team-mates would get behind Tammy Abraham after his Super Cup penalty shoot-out miss against Liverpool.

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea drew 2-2 with Jurgen Klopp’s Champions League winners after extra-time and went to penalties.

Back-up goalkeeper Adrian denied substitute Abraham to seal the Reds’ 5-4 triumph in Turkey, but Pulisic struck an optimistic tone after the defeat and was confident the miss would have no longterm impact on the England Under-21 forward.

“It’s penalties – somebody has to miss,” Pulisic said. “He’s going to get his head up. Obviously it’s tough but penalties are like that. He can deal with it and he’ll be fine.

“He’ll move on, he’ll score a goal in the next game and everything will be forgotten. We’re there for him.”

Pulisic felt it was the second game in a row where Chelsea’s performanc­e had not been rewarded with the right result.

“It was harsh on us,” the United States internatio­nal said.

“A few things just didn’t go our way, a few decisions and in the end, to lose on penalties, that’s just how it goes.

“But we can be really proud of how we played. I don’t feel that we had a fair result at Old Trafford either.

“We’ve been creating enough chances to win these games and we just have to keep going and keep fighting.”

Pulisic had a goal ruled out for offside after setting up Olivier Giroud’s opener, only for Sadio Mane to level shortly after half-time.

The Senegal internatio­nal put Liverpool ahead early in extra-time, only for Jorginho to make it 2-2 after Adrian was adjudged to have brought down Abraham in the box.

The striker wasted a great chance to win the Super Cup before the match went to a shoot-out, where Adrian denied the 21-year-old’s decisive spotkick.

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