May 6 – He’s only been there since October but Jurgen Klopp and his improving Liverpool team are 90 minutes away – barring extra time and penalties – from playing Champions League football next season.
With the Europa League winners qualifying for the first time for Europe’s senior competition, Liverpool have one more hurdle to climb following Thursday night’s semi-final victory that sent them into a showdown with holders Sevilla in Basel on May 18.
After losing the first leg 1-0 against Villarreal, Liverpool produced a dominant display to overhaul the deficit and win 3-0. The Basel game will be their first European final since losing to AC Milan in the Champions League in 2007.
Klopp’s pressing game, allied with his passionate personality and the energy levels he demands, has clearly rubbed off on his players. After just a few months in charge, he is into his second final with the club having lost on penalties to Manchester City in the League Cup final in February. “A lot of teams want to go to finals, it is not too easy, but it is a real opportunity,” said the German who has taken the Europa League more seriously than most knowing the prize that awaits the winners.
Liverpool have won eight of their 11 European finals and will start favourites though Sevilla have their own equally strong incentive, not only to play Champions League football next season but to win the Europa League three years in succession.
Sevilla, whose domestic form has been patchy in contrast with their Europa League performances, overcame Shakhtar Donetsk in the other semifinal 3-1 for a 5-3 aggregate and have once again swept all before them in the competition.
But Klopp estimates as many as 100,000 Liverpool fans could travel to Switzerland even though Basel’s stadium can only hold 38,000. “In 2016, the team have shown a lot of times what they could be capable of in the future so that’s a good sign and that is more important for me as a manager,” said Klopp whose team could be dangerous Premier League title contenders next season.
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