Sevilla are on their way to a third consecutive Europa league final and are looking for a hat-trick of Silverware in this competition. Liverpool have a challenging task to put a stop to this and bring back European glory to Anfield. The Reds have had a tough march to the finals with close encounters against some of the best sides in the competition. The march gets tougher as they face the defending champions in the finals who reached with a comprehensive 3-1 victory against Shakhtar in the second leg of the semi-finals. Jurgen Klopp is known to make a thorough study of the opposing team as well as the manager. Sevilla favor the same formation that Liverpool do and usually play the 4-2-3-1 in the big games. It will be a challenging battle both in terms of tactics and personnel as both sides are capable of doing wonders on an occasion as grand as this.
The Opponents
Sevilla boasts a fantastic Europa league record with back to back triumphs and the manager Unai Emery is a brilliant craftsman in terms of getting the best out of his side. Under his leadership, a lot of players have developed and discovered new dimensions to their game. One such player to make a note of is Kevin Gameiro. The striker has been in outstanding form, especially on this competition with a goal tally of seven. Liverpool will have to be at their best if they want to over-power Sevilla and take the trophy from Spain to England.
Strengths
Sevilla favor the 4-2-3-1 much like the formation used by Jurgen Klopp for Liverpool. This formation gives Emery’s side the perfect balance of attack and midfield as they have the likes of Gameiro and Konoplyanka up-front and N’Zonzi in the midfield. The biggest asset that Emery has is Gameiro with the striker netting half of Sevilla’s goals in this competition. It will be a tough challenge for Lovren and Toure to contain the striker and not allow him room to maneuver around the box. Sevilla also have a strong midfield pairing of the former Stoke City player Steven N’Zonzi and Grzegorz Krychowiak. Emre Can and James Milner will have a tough contest in midfield with this strong duo of Sevilla.
Weakness
Much like Liverpool, Sevilla have some weaknesses in their defence. Adil Rami has not been in the best of his form as Sevilla too have conceded a lot of goals in their recent encounters. If we look at their last five encounters, they have managed only a single win against Shakhtar in the semi-final second leg. Liverpool should try and exploit this weakness and if the trio of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana combine well in attack, the Reds might be in a position to dominate proceedings with an early goal. This game certainly promises attacking football and might turn out to be a high scoring game.
