Jürgen Klopp believes Europa final vindicates faith in players

Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool's appearance in the Europa League final vindicates his faith in players who were written off under Brendan Rodgers but whose potential convinced him to join the club last October.

Turning doubters into believers was the Liverpool manager’s mantra from his first day in the job and victory over Sevilla in Wednesday’s final in Basel, he claimed, can complete that transformation inside seven months. Klopp insists he feels no pressure going into Liverpool’s first European final in nine years, only satisfaction that his confidence in the squad has been repaid so swiftly.

Asked why he commits himself to managerial jobs for so long, having worked at Mainz [2001-08] and Borussia Dortmund [2008-15] for seven years apiece, the Liverpool manager said: “And seven years at Liverpool hopefully. For me it’s the only way to work to be honest.

“I don’t feel the pressure. I cannot change. I feel opportunity. I don’t think I have all the time in the world but I don’t think I’ve ever felt doubt around me. If that’s right I don’t know, maybe I’m not sensitive, but it leaves me completely free to make decisions and completely free to get us all together.

“I came here because I was really convinced about the quality of these players. At the start I was the only person who thought this but that’s not a problem. To see how they deserve this final makes me feel really happy. I don’t know what will happen in the game tomorrow but, for everything on our way, the experience will be really good.”

Klopp added: “I am really pleased for the boys and that I can be part of this moment with the team. When I came here there was a real amount of doubt about these players so I am really happy they could show how strong they are. Tomorrow is an opportunity to make the final step in this season and achieve something together. Let’s try it.”

Divock Origi is in contention for a place in Liverpool’s match-day squad despite suffering ankle ligament damage only four weeks ago. “We will see after training with Divock,” said Klopp. “We have one more session and he did well in the last two sessions. We will see how he feels and then we will make a decision. You can all see how we train – so we don’t do very much.”

Jordan Henderson is also pushing for inclusion having made his first appearance as a substitute in Sunday's Premier League match at West Bromwich Albion since injuring knee ligaments.

The Liverpool captain said: “I don’t know the team, no. It will be a few hours before the game as always. I don’t expect to start, no. I’ve been here a long time and only played 25 minutes. When I’ve not been involved the team has done really well and won some big games. But at same time I feel good and I am ready. I am ready to play as long or as little as the manager wants me to.”

Klopp, who described Spain as “the best football country”, believes Liverpool’s difficult route to the final will pay dividends against the winners of the past two Europa Leagues.

“All the moments help you on the way to a final and we have had a few difficult moments,” said the Liverpool manager. “But the important thing is we solved them. That is part of our development. We had a frozen pitch in Sion, a long flight to Kazan and three days later a very difficult Premier League game [the 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace] that no one made excuses for us. This game is the bonus for all of those moments that we worked for, coming back from Villarreal at 5am and then having a midday kick off at Swansea three days later. It is not so easy to be ready for everything but for this final we will be ready. We will use our common experience to be the best team in Liverpool shirts for a long time.”

(Guardian service)