Benfica goalkeeper Artur has admitted that he cannot believe his side lost to Chelsea in Wednesday night's Europa League final.

Artur said that he was surprised with the way Benfica managed to control the game, but admitted that his side were less "clinical" than their English opponents.

"We are very sad," he told UEFA.com. "We did everything we could to win and I cannot explain how we lost because everything we needed to do, we did.

"This is a group with a lot of merit. We deservedly made this stage of the competition and we showed to the world what Benfica are about. We showed that Benfica are now ready to start winning.

"We were expecting Chelsea to hit us on the counterattack, but we had total control, we were better, playing some beautiful football. We had chances but unfortunately, like last season against them, the cagey but clinical team came out on top."

Branislav Ivanovic won the game for Chelsea with a stoppage-time header.