Dušan Tadić struggled to find the words to sum up his emotions after Southampton’s gutting defeat in the EFL Cup final.
Saints dominated the game, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 87th-minute winner, after Claude Puel’s side had fought back to make it two-two, won it for Manchester United.
Tadić felt Saints deserved much more, having produced a spirited fightback and performance throughout, but was left gutted by the late winner.
“It’s very painful,” he admitted. “We deserved much more. I think everyone has that feeling. It was a very nice atmosphere.
“We were very happy when we saw our fans. They supported us really well. It’s very difficult to find some words, but I think we deserved much more.
“In the first half we played much better than them and they saw that they had problems with us, so in the second half they put Carrick to have more balance.
“Still I think we were the better team, but perhaps they were more experienced than we were.”
Tadić believes Saints will learn a lot from the heartbreak.
“Everything was possible in this game and I felt we deserved much more,” he added.
“This was the right moment for us and because of that we are very sad now.
“Football gives you good moments and bad moments. I hope we learn a lot from this.
“We are feeling very bad that we didn’t give the fans more pleasure.”
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