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Devante Clut and Matthew Bilic and New Zealander Stephen Carmichael were left sitting at their table as the last 52 were each called up on stage to take their place in the next round.

The three were devastated by the decision, after believing they had done enough to impress at the final training session earlier in the day at Barcelona FC's famed youth academy on the outskirts of the Catalan city.

Afterwards they admitted the selection process was torture.

They suffered heartache when every name read out was not theirs - and then watched as their rivals took to the stage with Brazil and Chelsea star David Luiz.

"I've never known anything like it," said Bilic. "I was just feeling sick the longer it went on."

But that disappointment was nothing new to Argentinean-Aussie Clut who has faced similar heartbreak when he has gone up for state selection.

"It always seems to happen to me," he admitted. "I've had that feeling before."

From their group of 22 they played trial games and drilled with, just four made the cut - two Italians and two South Africans.

"We never even saw most of the players that went through," Clut said. "48 players got through that we never once saw play so we have no real idea what the coaches were looking for."

Bilic added: "We just have to learn from what's happened here and take as much knowledge as we can from the coaches and anyone who was watching and work on what you need to do to impress the players."

Kiwi Carmichael added: "We've not had any feedback from the coaches yet but we probably will before we go home."

After the devastating blow of missing out on the final 52, the boys still had the chance to go to the El Clasico at Camp Nou today where they watched Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 in a thrilling game as part of the 91,000-plus crowd.

"We bounced back by putting our Barcelona jerseys on," revealed Clut. "We just said if we don't smile ythen we are going to waste a good experience.

"We just need to learn and soak in this as much as we can because it won't happen again. We just need to take it on the chin."

The boys will now stay on to watch the end of the talent hunt - although only from the sidelines from now on.

But Clut has vowed to bounce back, and is already hoping to take another shot at the next Chance.

"Tomorrow we might be upset again but after a few days we should be fine," he said.

Bilic added: "When you get knocked down, you just get back up again."

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