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Simon Mignolet: Liverpool FA Cup defeat at Wembley irrelevant to final

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has said his side's FA Cup semifinal defeat to Aston Villa at Wembley last season will have no bearing on Sunday's Capital One Cup final against Manchester City.

The Merseysiders were beaten by Villa despite taking the lead against the relegation-threatened Midlanders, who went on to lose to Arsenal in the final.

But Mignolet said: "Every competition you go out of it is a disappointing feeling, like it was against Aston Villa last year, but it doesn't make any difference.

"You want to go to the final and win it.

"The game we play against Manchester City will not be the same as the game against Aston Villa, so we focus on that coming game rather than what happened in the past."

Mignolet stressed that Liverpool's players had to stay on top of the occasion, adding: "We know it is going to be a big day out at Wembley, but we have to see it as a professional football match as we do every week.

"Every time you go to Wembley it is a huge occasion, but you can't get flustered -- you have to see it as a football match and hopefully that will be enough."

Victory would provide Liverpool with another win in a competition they won four years ago in a penalty shootout victory over Cardiff.

And Mignolet said it would also "make the boys even more hungry for trophies in the future."

He added: "The first year I was here [2013-14] we battled to win the Premier League right up until the final day, so this is another step in the right direction playing a final and we'd like to try to win.

"But we have to look no further than Sunday and put in a performance which can win us the game.

"Our manager [Jurgen Klopp] has the experience of playing finals both domestically and in Europe so he knows what it is to be there, but in the end it is down to the players who have to do the job on the pitch."

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