Simon: That showed how we've improved
Liverpool's tenacity and quality against Chelsea on Tuesday night encapsulated their recent improvement, according to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
The Reds dictated proceedings in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final and created enough opportunities to have taken a lead into the reverse fixture.
A combination of the woodwork and the shot-stopping of Thibaut Courtois restricted Brendan Rodgers' charges to single goal at Anfield, however.
That arrived from the left foot of Raheem Sterling, racing into the area to sweep home, and cancelled out an opener from the penalty spot by Eden Hazard.
The manager was buoyed by his team's level of performance, and Mignolet echoed his belief that something similar next Tuesday could book a Wembley final berth.
"In big games you always want to put in big performances and we did that against Chelsea," the Belgian told the Liverpool Echo.
"We made it very difficult for Chelsea, who have been in top form. There was only one team who deserved to win, and that was us.
"We played some great football, created a lot of chances and the only thing that was missing was a few more goals.
"That performance will give everyone a boost. We showed how much we have improved but the message is we can't afford to get carried away. Everyone needs to stay calm.
"Hopefully we can get the right result at Stamford Bridge and get ourselves into the final. We believe we can go there and get the result we want.
"It's not important who are the favourites now. We have to look at ourselves. We just need to put in a similar performance to this one. Tuesday will be a different game and we have to keep doing the same things."
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While Chelsea attempted just two shots across the 90 minutes, Courtois was kept busy throughout, particularly when pressure was mounting in the second half.
A stunning save to claw out an Adam Lallana drive late on typified the stopper's talents and, Mignolet argued, proved the Reds' dominance on the night.
"He's a very good shot-stopper and he showed that," Liverpool's No.22 said of his international colleague.
"The fact he had so much to do shows that we were the better side. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to score the second goal we deserved.
"We did well after going behind and it was a special goal from Raheem. He's on form again and hopefully he will keep doing that for us.
"Now we will think about the FA Cup tie against Bolton. That's on our minds before the second leg. We want to get into the next round of that one and then we will focus on Chelsea."