The third goal was furiously disputed by Liverpool after an assistant signaled an apparent offside against Coke, then lowered his flag.
Advertisement
“As I said, if players of his ilk become available and there’s a possibility of getting them, you may say we need a player in a different position more urgently but if you can get a player like that we should definitely do that”.
“So for example we may end up with an attacking midfield player, but if one of the better attacking midfield players comes up we are going to get him”.
Swept aside in the first half yet trailing only 1-0, the Spanish club equalized 18 seconds after the restart with Kevin Gameiro’s goal from close range and Coke striking twice in the 64th and 70th minutes.
Still, the high-intensity pressing game demanded by Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp yielded one goal – Daniel Sturridge’s beautifully curled shot with the outside of his left foot in the 35th minute.
“Once pre-season starts there will be a new wave of optimism and as I said the last really good season in the Premier League that Liverpool had was when they weren’t in any European competition, so maybe use that as an advantage on your competitors”.
It also dealt the charismatic German coach a fifth straight loss in a cup final, including the 2013 Champions League final when he was at Dortmund.
Sevilla woke up in the second half to shock Liverpool with three unanswered goals and capture their third straight Europa League trophy.
“We lost faith in our style of play”. We had time – we had 44 minutes to fight back – but we couldn’t. “The reaction was the problem”.
Unai Emery, Sevilla coachWe love this competition. Still we are surprised by our good things. The team took a step forward after that and then it was open season. They were cruising, and if not for some disgusting refereeing should’ve been up by a goal or two more, but the absolute capitulation that saw them register a single shot in the first 30 minutes of the second period, all while conceding three goals seems nearly unforgivable. “Who’s bigger than Liverpool?”
Former Sevilla star Alberto Moreno had been caught napping at left-back, allowing Mariano Ferreira to cruise into the box and put the ball on a plate. The goals were too easy.
Coke soon struck a sweeping shot from the edge of the penalty area, after Vitolo played two return passes and broke through a tackle. Coke then exposed Moreno’s lack of attention by firing low into Mignolet’s goal.
“Now we are frustrated but tomorrow or in a week we will see it more clearly and we will use it. We are out of worldwide competitions [next season], there’s not a lot of football on Wednesdays and Thursdays and that means a lot of time to train”.
The men you look towards to make the difference were nowhere to be seen all evening, with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino in particular failing to provide even a hint of their usual magic, with the latter withdrawn for Divock Origi after making no impact.
The England striker had already had a header hacked off the line and Liverpool had two vociferous penalty appeals for handball waved away by referee Jonas Eriksson as they turned the screw on their opponents.
Advertisement
A Europa League that promised so much for Liverpool fans ended in disappointment, the players will now have to look back and learn from their woes as they let Champions League football slip from their hands.
