Sterling on Chelsea goal: "It was a lucky finish"

Raheem Sterling was the stand-out Liverpool player against Chelsea in the first-leg of their Capital One Cup Semi Final, but insisted his tremendous goal was "lucky" after the game concluded.

Trailing 1-0 because of a first-half Eden Hazard penalty, Sterling popped up in the 57th minute from the half-way line, to beat defensive midfield duo Nemanja Matic and Mikel before leaving the back-tracking Gary Cahill with his head in his hands, stroking a terrific low effort past Thibaut Courtois to equaliser.

Regardless of the goal's quality, Sterling was rather humble, suggesting the finish was fortunate: "Jordan [Henderson] passed me the ball, I got to the edge of the box and thought I would shoot.

"It scuffed into the back of the net so it was a lucky finish, but it was good to get on the scoresheet and help the team get the draw in the end."

Sterling, at just 20-years-old, is one of the most highly-rated youngsters in Europe and was one of the best players on the pitch as Liverpool fielded a side with an average age of just 24 last night, and he was impressed with his teammates performances.

The youngster added: "There are quite a few young lads in the group; I thought everyone stepped up to the plate and played some good football at times, really comfortable on the ball.

"We didn't show the senior players in the Chelsea team too much respect and that's great to see. Hopefully we can carry that on into the next game."

As a result, Sterling stated the Liverpool camp is full of confidence going into the second-leg at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday. He told Liverpoolfc.com: "Obviously we were disappointed to be 1-0 down going into the break. But the lads stuck in there really well and played some great football at times.

"We kept the ball really well and exploited the space. We could have gone on and won the game," Sterling said.

"But it's not the worst result - we'll go into next week's game fully focused, knowing we can win there. Hopefully we'll play our best and try to get the result.

A place in the final at Wembley will be the reward on offer to whoever comes out on top in the second-leg, but Sterling insists he and his teammates will approach the game like any other: "[We have to] play our normal game, try to keep the ball, be patient and don't try to rush things. We know we'll get chances there.

"It is down to us to keep focused over the next few days and go into the Bolton game, that's the most important one now.

"Hopefully we can get the result there and then think about Tuesday when it comes. We just need to play our normal game and everything else will follow."

The 20-year-old clearly benefitted from the mid-season break he enjoyed recently, something which dominated the headlines as his teammates took away wins over AFC Wimbledon and Sunderland without him, but Sterling says he is ready for the challenging second-half of the campaign.

"I come back now fully focused and ready to go again. Hopefully I can help the team as much as possible, if it's scoring or assisting or doing something to try to get the best result for the team."