After a frustrating domestic campaign, the Europa League offered Liverpool with a rare opportunity to grab a Champions League berth.
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With the winners earning a place in next season’s Champions League, and the losers nothing, Klopp added: “We are disappointed, we are frustrated”.
Still, the high-intensity pressing game demanded by Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp yielded one goal Daniel Sturridge’s beautifully curled shot with the outside of his left foot in the 35th minute.
But first of all, he must address how and why Liverpool’s play slumped after Sevilla levelled the match less than 20 seconds into the second half ” and then totally dominated it after that, often pulling Liverpool’s defense apart easily.
Liverpool had three penalty shouts for handball and a goal disallowed for offside while Sevilla’s crucial third saw a linesman’s flag overruled by referee Jonas Eriksson.
The final of the Europa League was marred by fan violence, with a fight breaking out behind one of the goals before the match between Liverpool and Sevilla on Wednesday night.
In the midst of this match it was impossible not to glance down at the two managers involved as they highlighted why they are renowned not only for their talents but also for their eye-catching touchline behaviour.
The first half, Liverpool seemingly had the beating of their opposition in every aspect of the game.
“Obviously the first goal had a big influence on our game”, he said.
As the next transfer window will be upon us soon many hope that Klopp can attract big players to Liverpool with huge potential to turn the Reds into a championship team.
He claimed his half-time pep talk amounted to little: “I said we just had to believe in ourselves and remember what we feel when we play at our home stadium”.
In some ways, Klopp’s first partial-season at Anfield was a successful holding operation with a disjointed group he got from Brendan Rodgers, the previous manager fired by Liverpool in October. It is disappointment and frustration tonight. “And then some day everybody will say Basel was a very decisive moment for a wonderful future of Liverpool FC”. We are responsible for not being in the Champions League and we need to use the time we have over summer to improve.
As the curtain dropped after the Basel final, we can not but reflect on some of the standout performers from this season’s Europa League.
“On the way to the final we had a few moments where we over-performed and the boys showed what they are capable of but to show this consistently you need more time”.
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“I’ve had a lot of luck in my life as I sit here as manager of Liverpool”.
