Jürgen Klopp: ‘We lost faith in our style of play’

Liverpool manager waiting for luck to change after fifth straight final defeat

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says there are more important things in life than football but his side's 3-1 defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League final is hard to take. Video: Reuters

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is still waiting for his luck to change after Sevilla retained the Europa League trophy with a 3-1 win to make it five final losses in a row for the German.

The Reds boss admitted his side lost their way after Daniel Sturridge's brilliant opening goal was cancelled out by Kevin Gameiro just 18 seconds after the interval before Coke scored twice to put the game beyond them.

But Liverpool had three penalty shouts for handball and a goal disallowed for offside while Sevilla's crucial third saw a linesman's flag overruled by referee Jonas Eriksson.

“There are more important things in life than football. I don’t think God had a plan with me to go to the final and always have a knock,” said Klopp.

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“I’ve had a lot of luck in my life as I sit here as manager of Liverpool. I don’t think I am a unlucky person or life has not been good to me.

“We will carry on, I will carry on. I will try with all I have to reach the next final, even when you know you can lose it.

“There are bigger problems in life but at this moment it doesn’t feel like it, it is really hard.

“In a final when it is close you need a bit of luck even when we hadn’t had any.

“We are disappointed and frustrated 100 per cent but tomorrow or later in the week we will see it a little bit more clearly and we will use this experience, that is what we have to do.”

Klopp was less annoyed by the concession of the first goal than he was by the way his side handled being breached.

“Obviously the first goal had a big influence on our game,” he added.

“At this moment we lost faith in our style of play, we changed from passing quick and simple to complicated and lost our formation. It was not compact any more.

“I tried to change it but you could see but maybe the team was shocked, maybe the crowd was shocked.

“It is not good to concede a goal straight after half-time but you have 44 minutes to strike back but the reaction was the problem, we have to learn to react better in situations like this.”

Sevilla coach Unai Emery joined former Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni as the only men to coach the Uefa Cup/Europa League winners three times – although the Italian did it with two clubs, Inter and Juventus.

Emery’s achievement was even better after an unprecedented third successive win in the competition.

“We love this competition. We want it so much. It is our competition,” he said.

“We are champions again and the Champions League is an opportunity to grow.”

Emery’s success will make him a target for a number of European clubs. However the Spaniard is content to remain with the club for the long term.

“I am very happy here at the club. As long as Sevilla wants me we are preparing for the present and future,” he added.

“I work thinking I am going to stay my whole life but I know how football works. I don’t know what is going to happen.”