Gary Neville has revealed that he spoke with Sky Sports producers about his commentary of the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. Chelsea were beaten 1-0 by an injury-stricken Liverpool side, prompting the former England defender to label the team ‘billion-pound bottle jobs’.

The Blues dominated large parts of the match but appeared to self-destruct after the game went to extra time. Despite Jurgen Klopp bringing on several Liverpool academy products with minimal experience, Chelsea settled for taking the game to penalties and took their foot off the gas.

However, Virgil van Dijk’s 118th-minute header ensured that the final did not go the distance, with Mauricio Pochettino and his side coming under immense scrutiny after the full time whistle sounded for how they failed to capitalise on the Reds’ depleted squad to win the competition.

Neville was among the loudest in his criticism of Chelsea, labelling the team ‘billion-pound bottle jobs’ just moments after the all-important goal, which has stuck to the Stamford Bridge outfit since. The former Manchester United star has now revealed that he has spoken with Sky Sports producers about his remark to discuss whether the remark was ‘too harsh’.

He told The Overlap: “I’m not going to sit here and say that it was an instinctive and in-the-moment comment, I had one minute to think of that line. Peter Drury, the big moment after the cup final, that’s the commentator’s moment, and he was on for about 30-35 seconds. I knew that [Jamie] Carragher would come in next because I could feel him next to me, wanting to come in, Liverpool scored, and he literally jumped up and turned around to his mate.

“I got progressively angrier during extra time with Chelsea, and I thought to myself, initially I was going to use (Todd) Boehly’s name, but I didn’t want to personalise it, then I thought, should I say it, is it too strong? I was thinking that as I said it and sometimes when you think that you might think that it’s a reason not to say it, but I felt as though it needed to be said, it’s a harsh line.