Mourinho: Cup final defeat was undeserved

Jose Mourinho feels that Manchester United didn’t deserve to lose the Emirates FA Cup final against his former club Chelsea.

The Reds were beaten 1-0 by the Blues at Wembley Stadium, as Eden Hazard’s first-half penalty settled the end-of-season showpiece on Saturday evening.

Here is what the boss had to say in his post-match interviews with MUTV, BT Sport and BBC Sport, and in his press conference…

CHELSEA DIDN’T DESERVE TO WIN
“I congratulate them because they won but I don't think they deserved to win. I congratulate [them] because I am a sportsman and they scored one more goal than us and they get the Cup. I think I have to do what my job requires me to do - I am the Manchester United manager and I must be respectful, not just because they [Chelsea] were my previous club but because they are the opponent that won the Cup. But I think we deserved to win, we were the better team but that's football. It’s disappointing. We were the second best team in the Premier League and we were the second best team in the FA Cup, although I think we were the best [in that competition].”

WE GAVE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING WE COULD
“I am quite curious today, tomorrow, over the next couple of days to read, to watch, to listen to your opinions. My opinion on my team’s performance is every defeat hurts, but for me personally, the ones that hurt less are the ones when you give everything and you go without any regrets. So I prefer to lose like today than to lose like we did, for example, at Newcastle [in the Premier League in February].”

THIS IS THE WAY WE PREFER TO LOSE
“In the first half, we had absolute control and we had control of everything. I leave happy with my players, very happy with them and for me, that’s really important. I gave everything I could and I know the players gave absolutely everything they could. I am quite curious because I am now on holiday and I have more time for that. But this is the way I prefer to lose. I prefer to lose with positive feelings with my players than to lose when you feel frustrated and with regrets.”

IT WAS DIFFICULT WITHOUT ROMELU LUKAKU
“It was a bit hard for us to play without Lukaku against a team that defends with nine players. Chelsea are not stupid. They know our team without Lukaku or Fellaini does not have a [physical] presence so putting eight or nine players in front of the box they knew they would be dominant in that direct football. We tried everything by other ways but they had a huge block of compacted players. You need that presence. Every defeat hurts but I go home with the feeling we gave everything. No regrets. The image of the game is that David De Gea did not touch the ball. He touched the ball [when it was] in the net. For us to have David in goal or myself, it would be exactly the same. I wouldn’t save the penalty either and then me and David would be exactly the same.”

WE MISSED MAROUANE FELLAINI TOO
“It’s not a difficult decision [to leave Lukaku on the bench], it was an easy decision [because of his fitness levels]. I knew the opponent I was going to play against. I knew that they have a compact low block with lots of physicality where they try to close everything. I knew that without a target man it would be difficult for us. I knew that at least if we had [Marouane] Fellaini coming from the second line, we could attack their defensive line with his physicality. I knew that it would be difficult [without him], but I would not expect that the game was exactly like it was because it was a bit too much.”