Daniel Sturridge provided hope to Liverpool, but Sevilla captain Coke fizzed and fired in a brace to hand his team a hat trick of titles in a 3-1 Europa League final victory in Basel on Wednesday.
The result means that Jurgen Klopp has lost his fifth major final as a manager and his second as the Liverpool boss after the League Cup defeat on penalties to Manchester City earlier in the season, while Sevilla’s Unai Emery secured his third Europa League trophy.
England striker Sturridge pulled off an astonishing goal as he broke the deadlock 10 minutes before halftime at St. Jakobs-Park by curling the ball in with the outside of his left foot to leave Sevilla goalkeeper David Soria rooted to the spot.
Klopp’s outfit made a bright start, with Emre Can producing the first shot in anger of the night that was parried away by Soria.
Sturridge had his header cleared off the line by Daniel Carrico, who also survived a penalty appeal a minute later for a challenge on Sturridge.
Sevilla front-man Kevin Gameiro had his team’s first real chance with a spectacular bicycle kick that just went wide, but it was Sturridge’s classy finish that put Liverpool ahead in the 35th minute.
The Reds went into overdrive after that as they were denied a goal from Dejan Lovren’s header as Sturridge was caught offside, while a penalty appeal from the English club after a possible hand-ball by Grzegorz Krychowiak was ignored by Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson.
There was a third opportunity for Liverpool to increase their lead before the break when right back Nathaniel Clyne delivered a wonderful cross, but all of Adam Lallana, Sturridge and Roberto Firmino were unable to get the vital final touch.
That was to prove costly for the Merseysiders as Sevilla hit back from the second-half kickoff as Brazilian fullback Mariano squared the ball from the right – following a mistake by Alberto Moreno – to give Gameiro a fairly easy tap-in for the equaliser.
That saw the Spanish club take control as their superior pace and panache on attack was too much for Liverpool to handle. They got good width down the flanks, and Gameiro had two further chances to put Sevilla in the lead, with first Kolo Touré and then goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saved the day for Klopp’s team.
But the 29-year-old Coke – full name Jorge Andújar Moreno – stepped up after a thrilling passage of play as Spanish midfielder Vitolo took the initiative and poured forward, and just as he was about to get into the box, Coke swooped in on the run and slammed the ball past Mignolet into the bottom corner in the 64th minute.
It was a fitting way to go 2-1 ahead, but Sevilla – and Coke – weren’t finish yet. A controversial strike in the 70th minute saw the ball ricocheting off Philippe Coutinho and then possibly Alberto Moreno as well to fall into the path of Coke, who appeared to be offside.
But the Man of the Match buried the ball past Mignolet, who got a hand to it that wasn’t strong enough to prevent the goal.
Coutinho went close again with 10 minutes left, but Sevilla held on for glory, and also qualified for next season’s Champions League. They will be the fifth Spanish side in that competition, and with the two Madrid clubs Real and Atletico contesting the final on May 28, it proves that Spain are the clear leaders of European club football.
@IndyCapeSport