Liverpool vs Sevilla: Team news, predicted line-ups and pre-match stats

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It’s win or bust in Basel on Wednesday evening when Liverpool meet Sevilla at St. Jacob Park in the Europa League final, with the prize for the winners entry into next season’s Champions League group stages.

Sevilla have mastered this competition, having won it a record four times, including in the past two seasons. The Spaniards can become the first team in history to win the Europa League (or it’s forerunners UEFA Cup) in three consecutive seasons. Liverpool, on the other hand, haven’t won a European trophy since 2005 (the famous night in Istanbul), and their last victory in this competition came in the 2001 UEFA Cup. The Reds have also won the trophy in 1973 and 1976, meaning a victory over Sevilla today would draw them equal to the Spanish club in overall titles.

Unai Emery’s side have endured a disappointing season, finishing seventh in the La Liga table and exiting the Champions League in the group stages. However, Los Rojiblancos (the Red and Whites) can still qualify for either of next season’s European competitions: the Champions League with a win over Liverpool or the Europa League by beating Barcelona in Saturday’s Copa del Rey final.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have endured an indifferent season and slipped to an eight-place finish in the Premier League, as a change of manager, injuries, inconsistency and failed penalty shootout in the Capital One Cup final spoiled the Reds’ hopes for domestic success. But they can redeem themselves and turn Jurgen Klopp’s first season at Anfield a masterpiece by lifting this trophy.

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Date, Time and Coverage

Wednesday 18 May, 20:45 CET (12:15 IST) kick-off. Live on BT Sport Europe/HD (Ten 2 and Ten 1 HD). Live streaming on YouTube. Live match commentary on BBC Football.

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Team News

Liverpool

Liverpool have no new injury problems to worry about from the weekend, with Klopp having virtually a fully-fit squad to pick from, apart from the suspended Mamadou Sakho. That means he must make a late decision on whether to start captain Jordan Henderson (knee) after he made his comeback against West Brom on Sunday. However, the England international is more likely to take his place on the bench alongside Belgian forward Divock Origi (ankle), who is back ahead of schedule. No 2 goalkeeper Danny Ward, meanwhile, will also be on the bench after recovering from a knee problem.

Squad: Simon Mignolet, Danny Ward, Shamal George | Nathaniel Clyne, Kolo Toure, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Steven Caulker, Martin Skrtel | James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Lucas, Emre Can, Joe Allen, Jordan Ibe, Oluwaseyi Ojo | Christian Benteke, Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi.

Sevilla

Emery rested a host of first-team players against Athletic Bilbao at the weekend. Only Adil Rami and Timothee Kolodziejczak who started in the 3-1 defeat have a realistic chance of making the line-up today. Ben Tremoulinas (knee), Marco Andreolli (heel) and Michael Krohn-Dehli (knee) have all been ruled out while former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes (appendix) could become the first player to win the trophy four times but is not expected to feature. There were some doubts that Yevhen Konoplyanka (thigh) would be fit for the final, but that has all been put to bed. The winger passed his fitness test and will be available to go in Basel. Although it would be no surprise if he started on the bench like in the second leg of the semi-final.

Squad: Sergio Rico, David Soria, Juan Soriano | Adil Rami, Timothee Kolodziejczak, Sergio Escudero, Nicolas Pareja, Coke, Mariano Ferreira, Federico Fazio, Diogo Figueiras | Grzegorz Krychowiak, Daniel Carrico, Vicente Iborra, Jose Antonio Reyes, Sebastian Cristoforo, Steven N’Zonzi, Ever Banega, Vitolo, Yevhen Konoplyanka | Kevin Gameiro, Fernando Llorente.

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The Road to Basel

Liverpool

The Reds have had an impressive run to the final, with plenty of thrilling displays to reach the showpiece event. Having beaten domestic rivals Manchester United in the round of 16 to set up a quarter-final clash against Klopp’s former club, Borussia Dortmund. Klopp’s side were two goals down against the much-fancied Bundesliga giants less than 10 minutes into the second leg at Anfield, but came back to record a stunning last-minute victory. A similar attitude saw them fight back from a goal down against Villarreal to smash them 3-0 in the return leg and advance to the final.

Sevilla

For the La Liga side, the path to the final saw them get the better of host side FC Basel in the Round of 16, followed by a penalty shootout win over La Liga rivals Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals before overcoming Ukrainian titans Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi-finals. This is familiar territory for Emery’s men, who have won the tournament in the last two seasons, and now have a chance to make it three in a row.

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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.

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Form Guide

Liverpool – DDWDL

15-May – Premier League – West Brom 1-1 Liverpool 11-May – Premier League – Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea 08-May – Premier League – Liverpool 2-0 Watford 05-May – Europa League – Liverpool 3-0 Villarreal 01-May – Premier League – Swansea City 3-1 Liverpool

Sevilla – LLWLD

14-May – La Liga – Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Sevilla 08-May – La Liga – Sevilla 1-4 Granada 05-May – Europa League – Sevilla 3-1 Shakhtar Donetsk 01-May – La Liga – Espanyol 1-0 Sevilla 28-Apr – Europa League – Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Sevilla

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Players to Watch

Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)

The striker has been eased back by Klopp after recovering from his injury long lay-off and has scored four goals in his last six games, including in the semi-final second leg victory against Villarreal. Sturridge has all the attributes to unlock Los Rojiblancos’ defence, who were abject again this past weekend as they lost 3-1 to Bilbao. With pace, power and good finishing skills, the England international is expected to be a real handful for the opposition defenders.

Kevin Gameiro (Sevilla)

Gameiro can count himself unfortunate not to have been included in France’s squad for the European Championships. The striker bagged 27 goals in all competitions for Sevilla this term, with seven of them coming in the Europa League to help them reach the final. Gameiro doesn’t just bring goals, however, as he can find teammates in better scoring positions as well, having provided seven assists this season.

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Key Battle

Dejan Lovren v Kevin Gameiro

Gameiro has had some sort of season in the Europa League. Having lost their main back at the beginning of the season in Carlos Bacca to AC Milan, Gameiro has certainly stepped up. The Frenchman has scored seven goals in the competition this time around and certainly is a massive threat to Liverpool’s hopes of securing their first European trophy since 2005. As for the Reds, the improvement of Croatian international Dejan Lovren has been massive in their late season surge for silverware. With Sakho suspended, Lovren will very much have to be the leader in the back four on the day and will certainly have to be on top of his game to stop Sevilla’s man in form.

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Probable Line-ups

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Simon Mignolet; Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren, Kolo Toure, Alberto Moreno; Emre Can, James Milner; Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho; Daniel Sturridge.

Sevilla (4-2-3-1): David Soria; Mariano Ferreira, Adil Rami, Daniel Carrico, Timothee Kolodziejczak; Grzegorz Krychowiak, Steven N’Zonzi; Coke, Ever Banega, Vitolo; Kevin Gameiro.

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Match Facts and Stats

• This is the first ever meeting between Liverpool and Sevilla.
• It will be Liverpool’s 12th major European final, having previously reached seven Champions League/European Cup finals, three Europa League/UEFA Cup finals and one in the Cup Winners Cup. They have won eight of them (73%).
• Liverpool have won each of their two European finals against Spanish opposition, beating Real Madrid in the 1981 European Cup and Alaves in the 2001 UEFA Cup.
• Liverpool have never scored more than one goal away from Anfield in the Europa League this season.
• Liverpool have had 11 different scorers in this season’s Europa League, more than any other team.
• Only one of the last 10 finals in the Europa League/UEFA Cup has seen the team scoring first not lift the trophy (Dnipro, against Sevilla in 2015).
• In fact, Spanish clubs have won seven of the last 12 editions of the Europa League/UEFA Cup (Sevilla 4, Atlético Madrid 2, Valencia 1).
• Sevilla have won three of their eight European games against English opposition (D2 L3), including a 4-0 win over Middlesbrough in the 2006 UEFA Cup final. Sevilla have won 13 of their last 18 games in the Europa League (D3 L2).
• Sevilla played at St. Jakob Park earlier this campaign in the Europa League against Basel, drawing 0-0 in March.
• Kevin Gameiro has had a hand in nine (seven goals, two assists) of Sevilla’s 14 goals in this season’s Europa League, including eight in his last five games (six goals, two assists).
• Emre Can has attempted (41) and completed (34) more tackles than any other player in this season’s Europa League.
• Klopp has lost his last four finals: the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 2013 (v Bayern Munich), the German Cup in 2014 (v Bayern Munich) and 2015 (v Wolfsburg); the League Cup with Liverpool in 2016 (v Manchester City).

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Referee

Name – Jonas Eriksson Based – Sweden Age – 42 Games – 6 Yellow Cards – 29 Red Cards – 1

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Match Odds

Liverpool 13/10, Draw 9/4, Sevilla 9/4

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Prediction 

Both of the sides involved in the Europa League final have done impressively well in their matches in the competition so far. Regardless of their league form, both teams go in with an equal chance of winning this prestigious trophy. There is more significance to this final as winning it is the only route for these sides to qualify for nest season’s Champions League. Certainly the current form is with Klopp’s side but the pedigree of winning this competition from difficult situations is with Emery’s men. It will no doubt be a close game and an entertaining one for the neutrals. It is really one of those games that could go either way and it will not be won without drama or controversy. After watching the Reds pull off a miracle against Borussia Dortmund and coming back from a 1-0 deficit against Villarreal, it feels like this is their year and it is hard not to back them here, although they will not do it the easy way. But, when do Liverpool ever do it the easy way?

Predicted Score – Liverpool 2-2 Sevilla (Liverpool win on penalties)

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The post UEFA Europa League Final Preview – Liverpool v Sevilla first appeared on intothetopcorner.com.

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