Chelsea v Liverpool player ratings

By

Chelsea lost on penalties to Liverpool in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Here’s how we rated each Blues player.


Edouard Mendy: 7

Produced a couple of smart saves during the game and kept out Sadio Mane’s penalty in the shoot-out to deny Liverpool victory – but only temporarily.

Trevoh Chalobah: 6

Had a horrible task up against the superb Luis Diaz, who caused Chelsea major problems, especially early on. But what Chalobah has shown this season is resilience in difficult situations and he demonstrated that again, sticking to his task and competing well.

Thiago Silva: 8

Dealt with Liverpool’s dangerous attack – and, towards the end, some cramp – in another impressive display by the veteran.

Antonio Rudiger: 8

Had a great game, underlining how much he’ll be missed when he leaves at the end of the season. The highlight of his performance was arguably when he showed brilliant acceleration to thwart Mane on the right and shut down a dangerous Liverpool break in extra time.

Reece James: 7

Always energetic on the right but could have done more to help Chalobah deal with Diaz.

Jorginho: 7

Had his work cut out, but passed the ball well in what was often a frenetic game and was prepared to put a foot in and battle when needed.

Mateo Kovacic: 7

Played 66 minutes despite nursing an ankle problem. Gave the ball away a couple of times but in general did well in a very tough, intense battle in midfield, where he would have been badly missed had he not been involved.

Marcos Alonso: 8

Sometimes Alonso serves up a performance to justify his critics. This was one of those Alonso displays which showed why he also has plenty of admirers. He was strong, athletic and always a threat on the left.

Mason Mount: 7

An unfortunate end to the game for Mount, whose saved penalty was followed by Konstantinos Tsimikas putting away the winning spot-kick. He was hardworking, creative and got through lots of great work off the ball during a gruelling final.

Christian Pulisic: 6

Lively, certainly. But missed three or four chances to score.

Romelu Lukaku: 6

Worked hard up front, but Lukaku’s display was somewhat disappointing in light of his recent upturn. Missed a decent chance when he fired high and wide from the left-hand side of the box. Substituted late in normal time and by that stage he had faded.

N’Golo Kante: 7

Gave Chelsea exactly the fresh impetus in midfield they needed when he replaced Kovacic midway through the second half.

Hakim Ziyech: 6

Did pretty well after coming on for Lukaku.

Cesar Azpilicueta: 5

Oh dear. The skipper has made some errors recently and, having been brought on in extra time, he hit the post in the shoot-out. He had been introduced along with Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who was replaced by Ross Barkley 14 minutes later.