Giggs: Cup loss tough to take

"As I said though I'm proud of the young players - they never stopped battling. We're just disappointed to put on a good performance, score four goals and come away with nothing."

Having played over 917 matches for the Reds you'd have thought Giggs would have seen it all in his career, but he admitted afterwards that, even now, the beautiful game still never ceases to amaze you.

"After seeing the Reading/Arsenal game last night nothing should surprise you in football!" he joked. "It was unbelievable and it was similar tonight.

"You've got to be prepared for anything and fight right to the end. Unfortunately it wasn't to be for us. We put so much effort in but we go home disappointed and feel completely different to Sunday [after the league win over Chelsea].

"But we'll take the loss and look forward to the rest of the season because there are plenty of positives to take going forward."

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