Evra Laments Missing Medal

Patrice Evra admits he was sad to see another FA Cup campaign fall short for Manchester United as his quest to win the world-famous competition goes on.

The Frenchman has handled every other trophy that English football has to offer during his seven years as a Red, not to mention the European and Club World Cups in addition, but an FA Cup winner's medal has so far proved annoyingly elusive with Chelsea becoming the latest team to knock United out.

“It's a massive disappointment for us,” said Evra. “We didn't expect to lose and we really wanted to win the Double. A lot of players, including myself, haven't won the FA Cup and it was an important trophy for us.”

Evra felt yesterday’s replay defeat confirmed a demise that began in the original meeting with Chelsea, at Old Trafford on 10 March.

“I think we lost the tie in the first match,” he reflected. “We have to be realistic with ourselves - we gave the first game away. We were winning 2-0, they came back from 2-0 down and we drew 2-2. After that we had another chance to win at Stamford Bridge but Chelsea deserved to go through.”

Captain again in the absence of Nemanja Vidic, Evra graciously congratulated Demba Ba on his match-winning strike – and noted its similarity with a goal he scored against the Reds for his former club, Newcastle United.

“He did it when we played Newcastle away [last season],” said Evra. “He showed great technique and I don't think De Gea could have saved it. Well done to Demba Ba because it's a great goal."

Exiting the FA Cup leaves United, unusually, with only league fixtures to play in April and May. And while things clearly remain very rosy in the title race, Evra would love to have complemented its conclusion with further involvement in the knock-out competitions.

“We were really sad to lose in the Champions League, it hurt us a lot when we lost against Real Madrid,” he said. “And this is another really sad day for the club, the players and the fans.

“Now we're going to focus on the league. It's nearly done but we have to win a few games.”

Patrice Evra was speaking to ITV Sport.