Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson revealed he was down to take the sixth penalty in his side's League Cup final loss to Manchester City.
Questions were raised as to why the skipper never stepped up in the shoot-out at Wembley on Sunday as City claimed a 3-1 win after a 1-1 draw in the 120 minutes on Sunday.
Lucas Leiva, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana had penalties saved by City goalkeeper Willy Caballero as Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten.
Henderson said he was due to take the sixth spot-kick if required.
"Milly [Milner] was down to take the fifth one and then it was me on the list. That was down to the manager and the coaching team," he told the Liverpool Echo.
"It's not nice to see someone else lift the trophy. It felt as though we did enough to win but that's football - sometimes it is cruel.
"At 1-1 I felt that the momentum was with us. We were winning the ball back in crucial areas and we were getting the ball up the field quickly, causing them problems, but it wasn't our day.
"It's hard but I don't think we could have given any more. We said before the game we needed we leave everything out there, and we certainly did that."
Liverpool face City yet again, this time in the Premier League, on Wednesday as they look to push up from ninth in the table.
Henderson hopes they can move on quickly from their cup disappointment.
"It's a similar situation to when we were beaten by Chelsea in the cup final and beat them 4-1 the next week," he said.
"Something similar would be nice but it wouldn't make up for the disappointment of the final.
"There's still things to play for, especially the league - finishing as high up the table as possible - and the Europa League. We have to pick ourselves up and focus on what we have to do between now and the end of the season."
