During today’s press-conference ahead of Liverpool v Arsenal, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the last time he faced Unai Emery, which was in 2016, in Basel.
Emery’s Sevilla side clinched the Europa League Final with a 3-1 victory, as Liverpool bottled the second-half having dominated the first.
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A reporter suggested Emery got one over on Klopp tactically that night, but Klopp thinks it had much more to do with a momentum swing and our inability to kill the game in the first-half when we were all over the Spaniards.
“The game changed immediately, we had momentum, we lost it, we didn’t score often enough in the first half and in the 63rd game of the season there wasn’t enough fuel in the tank for us to fight back,” he told journalists at Melwood.
“I don’t think Emery had much influence and I couldn’t influence the second half. It’s happened. It’s history.”
Klopp is spot on, to be honest. As soon as Sevilla’s goal went in straight after half-time, Liverpool’s players looked like rabbits in the headlights.
There was little tactically he could do as all fight and imagination had left the team and Sevilla were playing on adrenaline.
Sadly, Liverpool have lost all three major finals since Klopp’s arrival, including a League Cup and a Champions League.
We really hope that will change this term. The Premier League would be unbelievable, but we’ll take what we can get!