Liverpool’s route to the final was far from plain sailing and the event itself is likely to be far from it too. The Reds have relied heavily on the support of the Anfield fans in the Europa League, with some memorable nights on Merseyside, but away from home the entertainment has been in somewhat short supply. Not only have Klopp’s men won just once on the road in Europe this season in 7 attempts, but they’ve scored just 4 goals across said games and never more than once in any of them.
Of, course, this isn’t your traditional ‘away’ game, with neither side backed by their home support, but the Premier League outfit are dependant on the Anfield atmosphere and in a small stadium with a very limited number of travelling fans from either team that will be hard to recreate. As a result I could see a tight affair playing out in this one.
Sevilla, meanwhile, have been on a terrible run in the league to end the season but since dropping back into the Europa League their record has been strong on the continent, barring a surprise defeat at Molde having already finished the job in the home leg of said tie. Kevin Gameiro has been among the goals but he, like Liverpool as a whole, tends to thrive off of home support. Indeed, amazingly, despite scoring 24 goals across the league and European competition this season the Frenchman has scored just 3 times away from home.
With the scores having been tied at the interval in all but one of Liverpool’s matches away from Anfield in Europe this season I’d back a repeat of a draw at half-time in what will no doubt be an intense match.
On the face of things it would be easy to assume that Sevilla are in poor form. But it’s important to note that when they’ve needed to they’ve got the result. They were impressive against Shakhtar in the semis and the only league match that meant anything recently was the Andalusian derby, where Sevilla defeated Betis 2:0. It would be fair to say that they’ve definitely been saving themselves for this final.
Liverpool have also saved their best for this competition, but in both the quarters and semis – against Dortmund and Villarreal respectively – they relied very much on the players in attack, while their defending left something to be desired, particularly at the start of games, remember Dortmund at Anfield? With this in mind, Unai Emery’s side may try to hit Liverpool early on.
Sevilla scored in the first halves of both legs against Shakhtar Donetsk and have more than enough quality in the final third to do so again. A goal in the first 45 minutes for the Spanish side looks well-paid at 2.37.