Bellerin 'gutted but very proud' after Arsenal's Carabao Cup penalty shootout exit

Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin says he is “very gutted but very proud” of the Gunners’ performance in a thrilling 5-5 draw at Anfield that saw Liverpool progress on penalties.

The Londoners twice held a two-goal advantage but were pegged back, eventually conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to take the game to a shootout.

Bellerin, captain for the night, netted the first spot-kick but his international compatriot Dani Ceballos saw Caoimhin Kelleher push his penalty aside for the only save of the shootout, meaning the Reds went into the quarter-finals.

However, the right-back believes that Arsenal can take some pride from participating in a classic game of football and scoring five goals at Anfield.

“[I’m] very gutted but very proud as a team because from the start we went for the game, we went for the win,” Bellerin told Arsenal’s official website.

“We're not scared to play anyone, we're not scared to play anywhere and as I said, there's loads of positives to take. Loads of negatives as well, but this is part of the way and we're looking on to the weekend now.

"I have to say it was great to play this kind of game. Loads of mistakes from both sides and those are things that we've got to look at and analyse and you know we've got to get better at. 

"The tempo of the play, the goals – this is football. This is what you play football for, for nights like this. Whatever the score, today we're gutted, but I'm sure there's going to be nights that go in our favour. 

"This is the thing, when you've been so close to winning and you lose at the end, it hurts. But this is what pushes you to do better in the next game.
 
"It's not easy to score five goals at Anfield. There's not many teams that can say that they've done that. Sure, we conceded five, we conceded a penalty and Alex [Oxlade-Chamberlain’s] goal is one of those things that you just have to sit back and take it because there's not much you can do about things like this.”