Liverpool take on Sevilla in the Europa
League final in Basel on Wednesday night with a place in the group stage
of next season’s Champions League up for grabs for the winners, Skysports reports.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have endured an
indifferent campaign in the Premier League, finishing eighth in the
table, their lowest position since 2012.
As a result, the Reds will miss out on
European football altogether next season if they fail to beat a Sevilla
team that has won the competition in each of the past two years.
Klopp insists, however, that Sevilla’s 2014 and 2015 triumphs mean nothing ahead of this year’s final at St Jakob Park.
The German also believes Sevilla’s Copa
del Rey final against Barcelona on Sunday could “make a big difference”
to the outcome of the game.
Sevilla, who are at least assured of a
Europa League place next season courtesy of their seventh-place finish
in La Liga, travel to Switzerland looking to make history by becoming
the first club to win Europe’s second-tier competition three times in a
row.
Meanwhile, a fifth triumph overall for
Sevilla – all within just 10 years – would also extend the record it
holds over the likes of Liverpool, Juventus and Inter Milan, who have
all won the competition on three occasions.
At the same time, victory for the
Merseysiders at St Jakob Park would see them draw level with the
Spaniards as the joint-most successful team in the UEFA Cup/Europa
League’s 45-year history.
But one perfect record has to end on
Wednesday: Sevilla and Liverpool have won all seven UEFA Cup and Europa
League finals they have played in.
Unai Emery’s holders, though, have not
won outside Spain all season long, a run that started back in August in
Tbilisi when Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup 5-4 after extra time.
Emery is banking on his player’s mental resilience to become the first coach to win three consecutive Europa League trophies.
“The fact that this is our third
consecutive final demonstrates how focused and hungry we have been to do
well in the Europa League, and win it,” he told Uefa.com.
“That means competing – standing up to be counted throughout the 90 minutes.”
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