Wayne Rooney joked Sergio Romero was not feeling 'kind' after Manchester United's back-up goalkeeper denied the Reds' record scorer a stunning consolation goal on Thursday night.
Derby were trailing 3-0 approaching injury time when they were awarded a late free-kick after a Scott McTominay foul.
United fans began chanting, 'if Rooney scores, we're on the pitch', and the 34-year-old must've thought he had, only for Romero to spring to his right and tip the ball over the crossbar.
"Sergio was not in a kind mood,” Rooney said after the final whistle. “He could have let that one in. It would have been nice but it wasn’t to be.”
Aside from a five-minute spell at the beginning of the second half, United were the dominant team throughout proceedings at Pride Park and Rooney admitted it was always going to be a tall order for Derby to progress.
"Obviously Manchester United are a good team and we wanted to try to win," Rooney told BT Sport .
"I think the draw was quite favourable for ourselves or Manchester United, whoever got through, and they were the better team on the night.
"But I have to say for our younger players, what an experience for them, and they didn't disappoint. They had some great moments today, and this game, although we lost, will do them the world of good."
He added: "That's the level, the difference in them handling the ball. There was always going to be that difference [between the two teams].
"We had to take our moments, which we had, but unfortunately we didn't. We didn't let anyone down tonight. We gave everything and, unfortunately, just came up short."
