He said: "This is only the start of a long project for Rafa Benitez and I'm sure he'll be taking us to many finals in the years to come. Obviously we're all desperately disappointed with the result, but we can take a lot of positives from it."
"We've pushed a team which is considered one of the best in Europe all the way. If we had won, it would have meant a lot to us and given the club a massive lift, but the gaffer will be here for at least four or five more years so this is just the start for him," he added.
Carragher also mentioned the questionable performance of referee Steve Bennet, whom many Red fans thought made a succession of wrong decisions.
Carragher commented: "We were 11 minutes from beating them and, after watching the game back on video, you can also see we were denied a definite penalty. Some decisions didn't go our way on the day and it was only the smallest details which cost us the match. We'll bounce back."