Chelsea can take plenty of positives from their FA Cup final defeat by Liverpool in that they matched one of the best teams ever assembled, each step of the way… until those dreaded penalties.

It’s starting to feel like a jinx.

The Blues (dressed in yellow) and the Reds (dressed in red) fought out another tough, tense draw. But it was 0-0 after full time, and 0-0 after extra time… a point when both teams seemed to be dropping on their feet from a season’s exhaustion.

But Chelsea just couldn’t make it across the line, with captain Cesar Azpilicueta and the usually dependable Mason Mount both missing from the spot, while only Sadio Mane was wayward for Liverpool.

To lose 6-5 on spot kicks is no disgrace. But it hurts, especially after repeating the League Cup final outcome almost step for step.

For Liverpool, Luis Diaz was magnificent, supplying endless superb openings – the ball regularly flashing past Edouard Mendy’s goalposts. But after Mo Salah was forced to go off after just over half an hour with serious leg cramps, nobody seemed in a position to convert.

In fact, it demonstrated to a waiting Real Madrid in the Champions League that the dependence on Salah is overwhelming.

Chelsea had chances too, with Romelu Lukaku and Mount both being in good positions, Marcos Alonso seeing several opportunities flash wide and Christian Pulisic (in the starting line-up, doubtless pleasing the club’s new Yankee owners) also having openings.

But when Craig Pawson organised the penalty shoot-out, at Chelsea’s end in a Wembley filled with 84,897 spectators, there was a nagging sense of deja-vu.

Chelsea’s women have a chance to restore pride today in the women’s FA Cup final.