Football
Liverpool captain and top striker: We did not deserve the Europa League title
Daniel Sturridge urged Liverpool to develop a winning mentality while James Milner refused to blame the officials for Liverpool’s Europa League final defeat.
The Sevillistas Los Rojiblancos came from behind to defeat Jurgen Klopp’s men 3 – 1 at the St. Jakob-Park stadium in Basel.
And the 26-year-old striker said:“They played well in the second half and it was nice to score, but at the same time you want to come away with a winner’s medal”.
Daniel Sturridge, who fired the ball into the far corner of the post in the 34th minute to put his side ahead, added: “We worked hard out there, but to lose the game is heartbreaking. But that’s football. When you lose in two finals it’s hard to take and you just have to take it on the chin.”
Speaking about the upcoming EURO 2016 the player noted: “The Euros are coming up and then it’s pre-season. For England I will do my best and then next season we will go into that with a mentality to be the winner.”
In his turn Liverpool’s captain James Milner said: “It’s devastating losing the game but I think the most disappointing thing is that we didn’t show anywhere near what we’re about. We didn’t play anywhere near our abilities. The linesman’s flag went up but the ref’s given it the other way. There were a few decisions which didn’t go our way but it’s nothing to do with the referee.”
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Milner continued: “We’ve shown throughout this competition that we’re good enough to win it but we didn’t, the night that it mattered most – that’s the most important thing.”
The captain also noted: “We haven’t really thought about the Champions League [qualification spot], it was all about winning this trophy”.
“It’s disappointing for a club of our stature and it’ll take a long time to get over it, but we have to regroup and learn from it. We’ve been to two finals this year and not managed to get over the line so we need to learn from that,” he added.
Milner concluded: “We were ready, we made sure we were on it and everyone was switched on, but we gave a sloppy goal away and never really got back into the game from that. We’ve shown that character time and time again to come back in this tournament this season but when you leave yourself too much to do that many times it’s very difficult to keep doing it.”
Liverpool who came eight in the English Premier League will have no place in Europe next season.