Chelsea lost their FA Cup semi-final 1-0 against Manchester City at Wembley over the weekend.
Bernardo Silva scored the game’s only goal, while Kevin De Bruyne was named Man of the Match.
However, Gary Lineker feels that a Chelsea player actually deserved the award and suggested that he would have got it if he had been on the winning side.
In the end, it was De Bruyne who claimed it, helping City to reach back-to-back FA Cup finals.
Chelsea’s loss to the Premier League champions means they will finish this season trophyless.
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Chelsea star deserved Man of the Match award
While Chelsea were unable to beat their opponents, they actually put in a good performance.
They needed Nicolas Jackson to be more clinical. Had he been, the Blues probably would have won the game. The Senegal international has since come in for a lot of criticism.
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Cole Palmer also failed to convert at Wembley, but Lineker was still impressed with the 21-year-old, claiming that he was actually the best player on the pitch.
Speaking about the game on The Rest Is Football podcast, the England legend said: “Man City got through but Chelsea are making progress, aren’t they? They have got to play a long game at some point at Chelsea, you can’t keep changing things every six months. They are on a decent run, playing better.
“They had good chances yesterday [Saturday] but you have got to stick them away. They have got a bit of a superstar in Cole Palmer, we have talked about him a lot in recent weeks and I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch. He didn’t get the Man of the Match because it always seems to have to go to somebody on the winning side.”
Was Cole Palmer really better than Kevin De Bruyne?
On the day, you can certainly make an argument.
According to Sofascore, Palmer made two key passes, while De Bruyne, surprisingly, did not record a single one.
The £45m England international also managed to create one big chance.
He did not deserve to be on the losing side on Saturday but having been, it practically disqualified him from the running to win Man of the Match.
Palmer and Chelsea now have to try and bounce back with a win against Arsenal tomorrow as they chase down a Europa League spot.
