Alonso was among the scorers on an extraordinary evening at Stamford Bridge.

And the midfielder added: “It’s hard to take that we are out. We had chances after the very bad result at Anfield, so we are disappointed we have not gone through.

“We feel as though we have restored some pride. Everyone has kept fighting to the end, at certain moments things were difficult, such as going 3-2 behind, but we scored two more goals and with 10 minutes left had a good chance to go through.

“We didn’t stop believing. And after the great first half we played, we had reasons to believe.

“We didn’t feel we had anything to prove to people, we want to prove something to ourselves because we wanted to keep alive and have chances.

“It is good that we are scoring goals, but on Tuesday we conceded a lot as well. We were trying to get over a difficult situation but probably we lost the tie at Anfield.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Babel claims he has been given “no real chance” by Liverpool manager Benitez this season.

The Holland international has started in just six of his 23 Premier League appearances and three of 10 in the Champions League, netting three goals in that time.

Babel, an £11.5million signing from Ajax in the summer of 2007, only emerged as a substitute in the final five minutes of Tuesday’s game.

The 22-year-old been told by Benitez to work on the defensive side of his game but is nevertheless aggrieved at his lack of action in recent months.

“I am not happy with this supporting role,” said Babel. “I have had three good talks with the trainer this season in which he indicated that I could not lose sight of the defensive aspect.

“It is my feeling that I have strongly improved, but still I get no real chance.”