Klopp has to give the fans Basle brush-off
JURGEN KLOPP called off Liverpool’s European party last night after his side’s comfortable victory at Anfield.
Goals from Joe Allen and Roberto Firmino delivered the points but the main talking point arrived after the match.
In his press briefing last week, Klopp had welcomed all Liverpool fans to travel to Basle in nine days’ time for the Europa League final against Sevilla.
Klopp was clearly talking in his usual light-hearted manner but his words have not gone down well with football bosses and the Kop chief now pleaded with fans only to travel if they have a ticket.
St Jakob-Park, the venue for the final, only holds 38,000 with Liverpool picking up a paltry 10,000 allocation.
He said: “I invited all Liverpool fans to Basle, and that was not too smart to be honest.
“So I have to take back my invitation to the fans, and please only people with tickets should go, everything else will be chaos.”
Liverpool, showing eight changes from the side that beat Villarreal, went ahead after 35 minutes when Allen prodded home Christian Benteke’s intelligent header following Philippe Coutinho’s free-kick.
Odion Ighalo showed the odd glimpse of menace for the visitors, as did Almen Abdi, but Liverpool coped comfortably enough.
After the break, Watford upped the tempo and Simon Mignolet had to be at his best to deny Ighalo from close range.
Yet just as Watford threatened the most, Firmino settled the game with a low effort Heurelho Gomes could not keep out.
Hornets boss Quique Sanchez Flores is still expected to leave at the end of the season, despite guiding them to safety and an FA Cup semi-final.
But he said: “You need to live with this and sometimes life is ridiculous. It is important to enjoy what we have done.”
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Goals: UP: WATFORD (4-4-2): NEXT UP: Booked: NEXT