Gary Neville admits he 'feels bad' for Chelsea 'billion pound bottlejobs' jibe

Gary Neville has admitted regret after describing Chelsea as 'billion pound bottlejobs' in Sunday's Carabao Cup final defeat against Liverpool, but claimed the Blues 'shrunk' when they had a chance to win the game.

Neville was in the commentary box for Liverpool's eventual League Cup win at Wembley and lashed out at Chelsea when Virgil van Dijk headed in the game's only goal deep in extra time.

The former Man United and England full-back produced a now-iconic reaction as the goal nestled in the back of the net and used Chelsea's lavish spending under co-owner Todd Boehly against them.

Chelsea have spent close to £1billion in transfer fees since the Boehly/Clearlake Capital takeover in 2022 - often paying inflated fees for young players with potential that have so far largely fallen short.

Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino hit back at Neville's scathing analysis during his post-match press conference and Neville has now offered further explanation on the meaning behind his initial statement.

'I feel bad now. I'm not going to sit here and say it was an instinctive commentary moment. It was instinctive because I didn't know what was going to happen in extra-time, Neville told Sky Sports' Monday Night Football.

'But Peter [Drury] did about 35 seconds after the goal, Carra did about 25 seconds and I was getting angrier. If you hear my commentary during the extra-time, I was getting angrier with Chelsea from the first minute of extra-time to two minutes to go because I could smell the fear in Chelsea, from the very first minute of extra-time when I said 'why are they sitting off them? Why are they letting these young lads grow?' Carra's just mentioned it.

'Then Jurgen Klopp started to grow. I remember there was a chorus, a song, that