Europa League Final 2016: Liverpool 1 – 3 Sevilla

Sevilla defeat FC Liverpool to earn spot in 2016-17 Champions League

Spanish La Liga giants, Sevilla, win the Europa League Championship for a record third year in a row, securing a spot in the 2016 – 2017 Champions League tournament. Liverpool’s only Europa League Final goal was by Daniel Sturridge, who opened the cup scoring at 35 minutes. The Reds continued to dominate the match until Seville’s Kevin Gameiro scored the equalizer at 46 minutes.

After the break, Sevilla returned to the pitch inspired by a half-time pep talk from manager Unai Emery. Sevilla captain Andujar Coke scored the match winner for the powerful Seville side at 64 minutes and then another for good measure at 70 minutes to secure the Europa League 2016 championship and trophy for the third consecutive year. Sevilla is seventh in Spain versus Liverpool who finished eighth in the England Premier League.

As the final whistle blew even Liverpool’s fans applauded winners Sevilla who clearly deserved the victory and a place in the elite Champions League line-up. Veteran Ivorian defender Kolo Toure stood out as being the Reds’ best football player at the Europa League Final in Basel. Toure wants to stay on at Liverpool, but to date manager Jurgen Klopp has not made an offer of a new deal to the popular thirty-six year old star.

Daniel Sturridge’s opening goal was sublime from a Philippe Coutinho pass, Sturridge bended the ball into the far corner with the outside of his left foot in a magnificent shot past David Soria in an untouchable arc. Liverpool side no doubt suffered the pain of the Europa League Final defeat that led to the loss of a Champions League spot for next season and all its attendant financial benefits. The Reds now will face the challenge of building their side for next season.

Klopp plans to sell Belgian International Christian Bentecke who has scored 10 goals for the Reds since his £32.5million move to Liverpool from Aston Villa last year. While Roberto Firmino, Phillippe Coutinho, and Emre Can have potential for growth, new players will improve the squad. With Sevilla’s Europa League Final win, the stunning recent success of Spanish football has been noted. The superiority of the top of the table wealthy La Liga sides may be due to colossal spending power, seductive home conditions, and great football academies.

Six European trophies in a row will have been won by three or four different Spanish teams by the time the 2016 Champions League Final has been played between Madrid sides Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.

After the match, Jurgen Klopp said that Liverpool will have to learn the lessons from their painful defeat in Basel saying it was Kévin Gameiro’s equalizer, 20 seconds after the rejuvenated Sevilla’s restart in the second half, following poor defending by Liverpool left-back and former Sevilla player Alberto Moreno, that Klopp identified as the turning point. “Obviously the first goal had a big influence on our game,” said Klopp who has lost his last 5 cup finals and will not compete in European football at Anfield next season.

“At this moment we lost faith in our style of play, we changed from passing quick and simple to complicated and lost our formation. It was not compact any more. I’ve had this problem one or two times with this situation. The first half was ok, we deserved the 1-0, Sevilla played a lot of long balls to avoid our pressing game. We were not as good as we can be but everyone told me there were two handballs in the first half. There were some obvious decisions which went against us. In a final when it is close you need a bit of luck even when we hadn’t had any,” said Klopp. “We are disappointed and frustrated 100%, but tomorrow or later in the week we will see it a little bit more clearly and we will use this experience, that is what we have to do. It is clear we are not in a European tournament next year so we don’t have football on Wednesday or Thursday, so we will have time to train and we will, for sure, come back stronger.”

“We had a few moments where we have performed but then to have this consistency you need a bit more time. They are still young, the players’ first big final, but unfortunately it is the second time this season. We will use this experience together and then some day everyone will say Basel was a very decisive moment in the future of Liverpool,” added Klopp. Sevilla is the first team since Bayern Munich in the mid-1970s to win three consecutive Uefa titles.

“I tried to change it but you could see the team was shocked, maybe the crowd was shocked too,” said Klopp. “Everything changed in this moment as we had a wonderful atmosphere until we conceded to make it 1-1. Sevilla took the game and we defended not good. It is not good to concede a goal straight after half-time but you have 44 minutes to strike back. The reaction was the problem. We have to learn to react better in situations like this.”

Liverpool had two penalty appeals for handball dismissed by the referee in the first half. The ref disallowed a Dejan Lovren header for offside against Daniel Sturridge, and allowed Coke’s third goal to stand after noting that, although offside, the Sevilla captain had received the ball via two Liverpool players.

“I have been around the block and this is not a situation I have seen many times for the ref to overrule the assistant. There are a number of people who will say it was perfectly accurate, but I have lost a couple of finals and never have I had a bad decision made in my favor. I would hope for that to change,” complained Klopp. “There were two decisions against us when there was handball and a goal which was disallowed and one allowed against us. All these situations don’t lead to me saying we had a great match. The first thing you have to do when you look at the man in the mirror is criticize yourself.”

Sevilla manager, Unai Emery, has never lost a Europa League tie. “Alberto Moreno is playing a great season for Liverpool and, from what I have seen, he is playing at a level that he can go back to the Spanish national team,” Emery said. “I always see the glass half-full because Mariano has a great offensive ability and I see him as a great offensive player rather than it being poor defending,” said Emery. “We have the Copa del Rey on Sunday against Barcelona and we have to prepare thoroughly for the challenge. We will celebrate this tonight but we will be careful.”

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