For a man who believes that nothing will be achieved without relentless industry, Jurgen Klopp might have been happy with the shortcut victory in the Europa League would have provided for his Liverpool side.
But there are no shortcuts for the kind of football Klopp believes in, and there were none for Liverpool who were undone during a calamitous 25 minutes at the beginning of the second half in Basel on Wednesday night.
Sevilla won the competition for the third year in a row as their class and nous undid a Liverpool team who ended up looking mediocre.
Sevilla may have finished seventh in La Liga, but they are a side with Champions League experience, a side which has been built to compete on nights like this.
Liverpool’s astonishing run to the final had led many to believe Klopp’s players were also ready, but anything they could have achieved wouldn’t have fooled their manager who didn’t need this result to know that his side lacks quality.
But it was a reminder delivered like a hammer blow. Liverpool caved in after the break. Those who had looked good in the first half like Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana disappeared, while others were never present.
Liverpool’s quality had always been in doubt, but there was an absence of intelligence and resolve as Sevilla ran through them. Liverpool looked lost, they looked like a club which has finished higher than sixth only once since 2010, a club which is perpetually looking for a new direction and which hoped that Klopp would be able to provide it quickly.
He may yet do that, but slowly. And this game provided another glimpse of the work he has to do. It was also another defeat in a final for Klopp, who last won a major trophy in 2012, and the next one will feel a long way away after this performance.
The Europa League offered a shortcut to the Champions League – if a competition as meandering as this one can be called a shortcut to anything. But it never offered a quick fix.
Alberto Moreno was the most obvious liability in Basel, but others like Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino were a disappointment as well, lacking the instinct to find a way into the game, while Liverpool lacked the composure to recover when they were overrun in the second half.
Liverpool’s league form may be more revealing than anything they produced in Europe this season. Certainly nothing that happened in Basel on Wednesday night will have surprised Klopp. Sturridge gave Liverpool the lead with a goal of stunning quality which illustrated why he might be worth all the frustrations.
Especially as Liverpool also have players who provide plenty of the frustration without any of the consolations.
Liverpool should have had the Europa League won at half-time. After Sturridge’s goal, Sevilla were shaken. If referee Jonas Eriksson had give one of the two penalties he should have in the first half, the damage might have been done. At that stage, Liverpool looked like the team that had knocked out Manchester United, Dortmund and Villarreal on the way to the final.
Another handball missed by the officials. That's three now https://t.co/bkrrCxG0eS
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 18, 2016
Then it changed and Liverpool transformed from their confident European selves to the meek domestic versions. Moreno was central to Sevilla’s equaliser, heading a cross weakly away, then flimsily failing to prevent a cross before Kevin Gameiro tapped in.
Suddenly the frustrations of Sturridge seemed like bliss. Moreno was a danger to his own side. Kolo Toure made an astonishing tackle to deny Gameiro, who then should have scored in front of goal only for Simon Mignolet to make a save. It didn’t matter when Coke put Sevilla ahead and then got the third while Liverpool looked for offside.
Liverpool now looked like the side which had lost to Watford, Swansea and Crystal Palace while finishing eighth in the Premier League. Sevilla had scored three goals from four shots on target.
Klopp will feel things would have been different if they had been awarded at least one penalty in the second half, but allowing teams back into matches has been one of their failings this season.
But there have been many failings which their European run concealed. They couldn’t be hidden any longer. In Basel, Liverpool found there was no shortcut to the top and no quick way of escaping the mediocrity which has been part of the club for several years.
