LONDON — Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has vowed that his team will rediscover its mojo in time for Thursday’s Europa League semifinal second leg at home to slick Spanish opponents Villarreal.
After a 1-0 first-leg defeat, Klopp saw a much-changed side beaten 3-1 by Swansea City Sunday and goes into the biggest game of his seven-month tenure on the back of the first successive losses of his Anfield reign.
Including a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United, Liverpool has now gone three games without victory in all competitions, but Klopp is confident that it will rediscover its poise when the moment comes.
Reflecting on the defeat by Swansea, he told the Liverpool website: “We played like we played and I saw it for the whole 90 minutes and there was not a lot I enjoyed, to be honest.
“We have to think about it and we have to recover, which is very important, and we will play much, much better than we did Sunday.”
Following the euphoria of the astonishing 4-3 second-leg win over Borussia Dortmund in the previous round, Liverpool found itself drawn into a more cagey affair in last week’s first meeting with Villarreal.
After both teams had hit the post, Liverpool looked set for a creditable draw, only for an injury-time counter-attack to culminate in Adrian Lopez giving Villarreal a slender advantage.
Seeking to reach a first continental final since the 2007 Champions League decider, Liverpool approaches the second leg needing to cancel out Villarreal’s lead but without exposing itself on the counter.
With the defeat at Swansea having damaged its chances of qualifying for next season’s Europa League via the league, winning this season’s competition, which will yield a place in next season’s Champions League, has now taken on even greater importance.
Villarreal travels to Liverpool full of confidence after securing a return to the Champions League for the first time in four years with a 2-0 win at Valencia in La Liga Sunday.
Coach Marcelino, whose club has never reached a major final, could even afford the luxury of making 10 changes at the Mestalla from the side that beat Klopp’s men in the first leg.
He has a fully fit squad to choose from as Ivorian international Eric Bailly has overcome the hamstring injury he suffered in the first leg to travel with the rest of the squad.
Europa League winner for the past two seasons running, Sevilla is in the driving seat in the other semifinal following a 2-2 first-leg draw away to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
The victorious semifinalists will meet in the final at Basel’s St Jakob-Park stadium on May 18.
