Europa League: Reds chase Villarreal win

Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico Gonzalez at a training session on Wednesday, ahead of their Uefa Europa League semi-final second leg against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Ciudad Deportiva in Sevilla, Spain. (Photo: AFP)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has vowed that his team will rediscover their mojo in time for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg at home to slick Spanish opponents Villarreal.

After a 0-1 first-leg defeat, Klopp saw a much-changed side beaten 1-3 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 in the ongoing season.

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 on Thursday.”

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 first 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 going into the home leg.