Klopp discusses Europa League final starting line-up

Matt Stead

Jurgen Klopp has discussed his thoughts surrounding Liverpool’s starting line-up for the Europa League final.

Liverpool face Sevilla in the European showpiece on May 18, and the identity of those who will start in Basel is as yet undecided.

Klopp has favoured squad rotation since becoming manager in October, with the Reds having used 26 different players in the Europa League this season alone.

The German has a number of options at his disposal in attacking positions, with Daniel Sturridge and Roberto Firmino available as central strikers, while Kolo Toure, Lucas Leiva or Martin Skrtel could all partner Dejan Lovren in central defence.

“Of course there are places available,” Klopp told the club’s official website. “Who knows who is going to be in the line-up next Wednesday? I have no idea.

“Hopefully we will have more players coming back and then we will have a really difficult choice to make. But I haven’t thought for one second yet about the line-up for Sevilla.

“You cannot say ‘we will hold players back for the final’. We have to take what we can get from our last two league games and then we will see.

“Not one of the players who were rested on Sunday because of the intensity of Thursday night were like: ‘Yes! How cool is this? Let me stay at home’.

“Instead they were like: ‘What? Why me? They all wanted to play’. Lallana, Emre, Dejan… all these guys. That’s a good situation.

“I don’t want to create a pressure and say ‘come on, show me you are ready for the final’.

“We will just see how things are over the coming days, how everyone is, and then we will make a decision for Chelsea, then for West Brom and then hopefully with the whole squad together for the final.”