How Emery beat Klopp last time

A clever finish off the outside of Daniel Sturridge’s left-foot had given Liverpool the lead in the Europa League final against Sevilla and several spurned chances, goal-line clearances and penalty claims later, both sides went into their respective dressing rooms with the score 1-0.

Coke, who scored two in that game, revealed Emery turned the tide on opposite number Jurgen Klopp (right) with his words during the break.

“They were playing a lot better than us, then came halftime,” he told the author of Unai Emery: El Maestro. “The boss asked us to imagine we were playing at home, where we always won. The whole team seemed to believe it. Then he outlined several small tactical things, especially one move that we did immediately at the start of the second half, which brought our equaliser.”

Sevilla, galvanised by Emery’s impassioned call to arms, charged up the pitch with two players in advanced positions on each wing and Kevin Gameiro in the middle.

Liverpool dropped into their defensive shape and were two v two with Sevilla in the wide areas, with the full-backs leaving lots of space away from the centre-backs. Right-back Mariano and right-sided forward Coke teamed up and went straight at Philippe Coutinho and Alberto Moreno.

Mariano dribbled past Moreno to send a low cross in for Gameiro. With the centre-backs isolated, Gameiro could time his run to finish off a classic pincer move.