Jurgen Klopp will be looking to cap off his debut season in charge of Liverpool with a European trophy when they take on Sevilla in the final of the Europa League on Wednesday.
The two most successful teams in the competition’s history will go head to head at St Jakob Park in Basel, with Sevilla bidding to win the trophy for an unprecedented third successive year.
Liverpool
Jurgen Norbert Klopp knows where his loyalties lie during the Europa League quarter-final between Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund on April 14, 2016© Getty Images
With the Premier League season now over, Liverpool can reflect on a disappointing domestic campaign that saw them finish eighth in the table.
They went into the final day still in with an outside chance of finishing in the top six and qualifying for Europe via their league position, but a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion put paid to those hopes.
Klopp made a full 11 changes for that match, though, which was a not-too-subtle hint that his priority lies in Basel on Wednesday night.
Despite having been in charge for just seven months, this will be Klopp’s second cup final in charge of the Reds, although his recent record on such occasions does not bode too well for the Merseysiders.
The German has lost his last four cup finals as a manager, including the 2013 Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund and a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Manchester City in this season’s League Cup.
Recent form: WDDWLW
Recent form (all competitions): LLWWDD
Sevilla
Sevilla players celebrate their victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at the end of the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg on May 5, 2016© AFP
Just like Liverpool, Sevilla have endured a disappointing domestic campaign and need to win on Wednesday to ensure that they are involved in European competition again next season.
Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Athletic Bilbao means that Unai Emery’s side ended the season seventh in La Liga, eight points behind the final Europa League qualification spot.
It was also a third consecutive La Liga defeat for the club, who ended the league season by picking up just four points from the final 27 available to them.
It is a different story when it comes to this competition, though, and Sevilla would create a slice of history with victory on Wednesday as no club has ever won either the UEFA Cup or the Europa League three times in succession.
Indeed, no team has even reached the final three years in a row before this season, and the last team to win any European competition three times on the bounce was Bayern Munich in the European Cup from 1974 to 1976.
Team News
Divock Origi is rated as 50-50 to be involved but is likely to miss out on a starting berth to Daniel Sturridge even if he is deemed fit, while Danny Ings finally made his first appearance for Klopp at The Hawthorns but will not feature.
Mamadou Sakho remains suspended after his failed drugs test, while Danny Ward and Joe Gomez are both injury absentees for the final.
Alberto Moreno is expected to play against his former club, and Simon Mignolet should continue his record of having played every minute in the competition so far.
Sevilla, meanwhile, will be missing Michael Krohn-Dehli due to a knee injury, while former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes could become the first player to win the trophy four times but is not expected to feature.
Kevin Gameiro has been the leading marksman for the club with seven Europa League goals this term, and a hat-trick on Wednesday would take him level at the top of the tournament’s goalscoring charts.
Recent form: DWWLDW
Recent form (all competitions): WDLWLL
Head To Head
These two sides have never met each other before, but both will be looking to protect 100% records in previous finals of this competition when they face off on Wednesday.
Liverpool have played twice at this stadium before and are winless in both previous visits, although their overall record in Switzerland stands at three wins from six visits.
Sevilla, meanwhile, drew on their only previous trip to St Jakob Park and have a mixed record against English opposition having won three, drawn two and lost three of their eight meetings. That does include a 4-0 win over Middlesbrough in the 2006 UEFA Cup final, though.
Prediction : Liverpool 3 Sevilla 1
Source : Sportsmole
Preview: Europa League final - Liverpool vs. Sevilla
No comments:
Post a Comment