Liverpool not mentally weak despite Sevilla draw – Klopp

LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp defended his side’s mental strength – despite crumbling under the pressure of an inspired second-half Sevilla comeback to throw away a three-goal lead in Spain on Tuesday night.

A thrilling 3-3 draw leaves Liverpool still on top of Champions League Group E, but means they still need a point when the English Premier League side host Spartak Moscow, on December 6, to book their place in the last 16 elite for the first time in nine seasons.

Klopp blamed Liverpool’s lack of Champions League experience in recent seasons for the way they folded, after a Roberto Firmino double either side of a Sadio Mane header had given them a 3-0 lead inside half an hour into the game.

“It was not perfect, but it is not a general problem. It just happened,” Klopp said.

“In this atmosphere, we need more experience. Could we have done better, 100%, but do I think it is a mentality problem, 100% not.”

Wissam Ben Yedder headed home an Ever Banega free-kick and then slotted home from the penalty spot to reduce the arrears.

Guido Pizarro then prodded home a stoppage-time equaliser to extend Sevilla’s year-long unbeaten run at home, amid delirious scenes at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

“It was an incredible match,” Sevilla head coach Eduardo Berizzo said. “We managed to transform all pessimism into optimism.”

Klopp, meanwhile, was left to rue the latest in a series of defensive collapses that have dogged his two years in charge at Anfield.

“They are human beings,” Klopp said of his players’ complacency after half time.

“Maybe it was misjudgment in controlling the game. You cannot become passive in a game like this, because the second half is too long.

“It is not the first time it has happened in football, it will not be the last time.

“Sevilla had to show character. If this is Anfield and we are 3-0 up it is different, but it was here [Seville} and we let them come back – that is our main mistake,” Klopp said.

Both sides are in control of their own destiny to reach the knockout stages, with a point also enough for Sevilla to progress when they travel to Maribor on matchday six.

Sevilla will qualify no matter what they do in Slovenia – as long as Spartak do not win at Anfield – and Berizzo hopes his side’s late equaliser forces a backlash from Liverpool.

“Liverpool need to go to win at Spartak, but we have to try to win in Maribor, no matter what happens in the other match,” he said. – AFP

It is not the first time it has happened in football, it will not be the last time