Jürgen Klopp vowed Liverpool would learn the lessons of a painful defeat in the Europa League final as he blamed their “shocked” second-half display, plus the referee, for a comprehensive loss to Sevilla.
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He also overturned his assistant’s decision to raise a flag for offside as Coke scored Sevilla’s third late on, and Klopp claims his side did not get any luck.
“We have showed our character in the competition but today we could not do that”.
“We will have no global tournament next year, we will have time to train”.
The Liverpool manager, who succeeded Brendan Rogers at Anfield, promised that the club would come back stronger the next season after the Europa League disappointment.
Liverpool’s players looked shell-shocked after their horror second half performance, but Klopp tried to remain upbeat after the full-time whistle. “We deserved to be 1-0 up and should have had two penalties for handball I’m told”. To use the time, that’s it. Of course, this team will be a little bit different next year, that’s clear.
Daniel Sturridge’s exquisite first-half opener was immediately cancelled out by Kevin Gameiro after the break. “It was an wonderful night”, Sevilla defender Daniel Carrico said after his team secured a place in next season’s Champions League. “Their first goal was a big influence on our game”, he said.
“This information from tonight we have to carry. It was not compact anymore”. “I’ve had this problem one or two times”.
But had Sevilla pulled off the same feat under the previous format of the competition, when it was known as the UEFA Cup, they would have been allowed to keep the trophy for good.
It was Liverpool’s second final defeat this campaign after losing to Manchester City in the Capital One Cup in February while for coach Jurgen Klopp it was a fifth final upset in six.
Having not utilised the January transfer window to bolster his squad Klopp has already signed Schalke centre-back Joel Matip and Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic for next season – and there will be more arrivals to come over the summer.
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He added: “We have a young team and it’s part of the game. We’ve got [Joel] Matip coming in so I think the most important thing is the acquisitions that can be made before the start of the season”.
