Daniel Agger says he will be ‘haunted’ by Liverpool's FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley.

The Reds gave Chelsea a two goal start before fighting back to almost salvage a draw after substitute Andy Carroll halved the deficit and then came within millimetres of levelling the tie, only to be denied by a stunning Petr Cech stop.

But it was the manner of Liverpool’s performance over the first hour which most aggrieved Agger.

“It is so difficult to talk about now,” he said. “I really don’t know why we played as we did for the first 60 minutes. But we didn’t turn up and you cannot afford to do that in an FA Cup final.

“We know these opportunities do not come along that often and that is why you have to take them when they do.

“This will haunt us. We didn’t show up for the first hour and that is not good enough in an FA Cup final.

“When Andy came on he did well and we played in a different way.

“I don’t know if it was over the line. I was at the other end of the pitch and I haven’t seen a replay but that wasn’t the reason why we lost.

“The reason why we lost was that we didn’t play well in the first hour. We didn’t lose because Chelsea played well but I think because we started the game really badly. We can only blame ourselves.

“There’s not much more to say right now. We are all just so disappointed.”

The Reds are now preparing for tomorrow night’s league clash with Chelsea before rounding off their season at Swansea next weekend.

“We have got two games left in the season and we have got to try and win them,” added Agger.

“That is how we will start to move forward. It is difficult right now to think about anything else.

“Can we challenge the top teams next season? Yes, of course. We have moved forward a lot this season but right now the only feelings are of disappointment.

“When you get into an FA Cup final, you really want to win it. Nobody ever remembers the runners-up. Nobody likes to be a loser.”