Jürgen Klopp has said there is no point complaining about Liverpool’s meagre ticket allocation for the Europa League final and that ticketless fans should head for Basel on May 18th.
Liverpool and Sevilla will each receive only 10,236 tickets for the final at St Jakob-Park, having qualified with victories over Villarreal and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively on Thursday. Basel's stadium will have a capacity of 35,000 for the Europa League final and only one Uefa final since 1998 has been staged at a smaller venue – the 2014 Europa League final in Turin.
Uefa has said Basel was selected two years ago as it was Switzerland’s turn to host the event and St Jakob-Park is the biggest football stadium in the country. European football’s governing body has also indicated that Liverpool’s ticket allocation will be increased in the event of Sevilla not taking up their full entitlement. Unai Emery’s team play the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona a week after the Europa League final.
Contrary to Uefa’s customary advice, Klopp believes supporters without tickets should travel to Switzerland and insisted it was futile protesting against an allocation that was decided long ago.
The Liverpool manager said: “What I learned in life is what I can’t change I don’t think about. It’s a wonderful opportunity and we can’t change the stadium. It’s a wonderful stadium and wonderful city. It’s worth going even if you don’t have a ticket to enjoy the city. We can’t think about the size of the stadium. If you ask who wants to see this final you will find 30 million people so there is no chance. It’s like this.”
Klopp said Liverpool captain's Jordan Henderson and the striker Divock Origi may have a chance of featuring against Sevilla despite fearing their seasons were over due to respective knee and ankle ligament injuries.
He said: “I don’t know about Jordan in this moment but he was really celebrating after the game and I saw in his eyes that he thinks he has a chance. It is the same with Divock Origi. You need to be ready the Sunday before otherwise we can’t take the risk. No doubt he will be fit for the European Championships.”
The Liverpool manager also believes Daniel Sturridge, who impressed on his return to the Europa League starting lineup on Thursday, will be in peak condition for England this summer. "With Daniel we did everything we could to get him as fit as possible," he said. "Now he looks great and that's good news for England with the European Championship. There is nothing negative."
Adam Lallana has said the misery of losing the Capital One Cup final in February will spur Liverpool to ensure there is no repeat against Sevilla. Liverpool have reached two cup finals since Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers as manager in October, the first ending in a penalty shootout defeat against Manchester City at Wembley. The England international, outstanding in the 3-0 win over Villarreal, insists that painful experience can help Klopp's team in their second shot at a trophy this season.
Lallana said: “We’ve experienced losing in a final and it is not nice. I think the experience of that day will help us, even in such a short turnaround to this final. It is a young squad but I feel we need to win something to feel what it is like to win and almost make it like a bug, just keep going.”
(Guardian service)
