Our boss – Jurgen Klopp – joked that he is “quite good at celebrating things” when he asked what he’d do if we beat Sevilla by a journalist.
According to the Echo, the German is “ready for a party” after losing his last four finals. He was beaten by Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, by Bayern and Wolfsburg in the German Cup, and by Man City here at Liverpool.
“What would winning this final mean to me? It would mean a nice party,” Klopp said.
“I’m quite good at celebrating things. It is long ago that I celebrated something really so I’m ready.
“Someone will write it that I didn’t win too much. That is the truth but very often I was in a final against a team that’s actually a little bit better.
“The performance was good though. We got there because we were over performing.
“Then in the final you have the best team against you and you think ‘Oh my God that is quite difficult’ but even then we played our best like the Champions League final and were really competitive.”
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Klopp also agrees with Milner, called the Champions League qualification a “bonus” rather than the main purpose of winning.
“The only way for us to be in the Champions League next season is by winning a trophy this season so yeah, it’s clear.
“It’s a bonus. Most of the time this season we thought we could still go to the top four. We were six points behind in the end and that’s not too far away.
“Anyone who really understands our way realises that we lost a minimum of six points because we are now in the final. We couldn’t change it. We had to make decisions. You can criticise and say: ‘If you’d played this team the league would be better, you’d already be in the Champions League or the Europa League, and maybe now you are under pressure because of this’.
“The Champions League spot is good for the tournament. Before the Europa League final was something like the little not so nice brother.
“This year it’s a completely different tournament and that’s because a lot of big teams have stood in the tournament nearly until the end. When I heard about the rule I thought: ‘Yes, that’s a perfect idea’. If we could take the benefit then that would be great.
“But it’s not that I thought: ‘So the best way to qualify for the Champions League is by winning the Europa League.’
“Winning a title or winning a cup is the biggest thing in football.”