The Citizen (Gauteng)

‘Reds will find their mojo’

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– Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp (above) has vowed that his team will rediscover their mojo in time for tonight’s Europa League semifinal, second-leg at home to Villarreal.

After a 1- 0 fi rst-leg defeat, Klopp saw a much-changed side beaten 3-1 by Swansea City on 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 have now gone three games without victory in all competitio­ns, but Klopp is confident that they will rediscover their 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 on Sunday. We have to accept the result, which is what we do, and then we work and we will be better.”

Following the euphoria of the astonishin­g 4-3 second-leg win over Borussia Dortmund in the previous round, Liverpool found themselves drawn into a more cagey affair in last week’s fi rst 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.

Europa League winners for the past two seasons running, Sevilla are in the driving seat in the other semifinal following a 2-2 firstleg draw away to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk. – AFP

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