Adam Lallana has admitted that Liverpool need to catch “the bug” of winning silverware after reaching the Europa League final and insisted that the key to success will be a willingness “to feel pain for one another.”
Lallana, who scored the third goal in Liverpool’s resounding 3-0 win over Villarreal as they booked their place in the final on May 18 against Seville, believes the appointment of Jürgen Klopp in October was the catalyst for their assault on the Europa League but acknowledges that they must now go on to win the competition in order to make the season a success.
Having lost the Capital One Cup final to Manchester City in February, Lallana, an increasingly influential figure in the Liverpool dressing room, recognises the importance of not allowing another opportunity to win a trophy to pass them by and believes his team has both the quality and the growing belief to defeat Seville.
“We’ve experienced losing in a final and it is not nice,” the midfielder said. “I think the experience of that day will help us, even in such a short turnaround to this final. It is a young squad but I feel we need to win something to feel what it is like to win and almost make it like a bug, just keep going.
“This is a long competition and people say we don’t show it enough respect at the beginning in the group stages, but we were unbeaten for however long in this competition. As soon as this manager come in, we knew we were taking it seriously, respected this competition and we’ve got our rewards for going away Thursday nights, putting in good performances and coming back and having a game on Sunday.
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“It’s an exciting end to the season. But Seville have won it the last two years, haven’t they? It’s going to be a difficult game. We’ll respect them and what they’ve achieved, but we’ll be focusing on ourselves. If we play like we did against Villarreal, we can beat anyone.”
Lallana believes Villarreal were “rattled” by either the Anfield atmosphere, the intensity of Liverpool’s play or possibly both, and he is looking for a similar display in the final, which takes place at St Jakob Stadium in Basle later this month.
“The system is irrelevant as long as you’re all fighting for each other and willing to feel pain for each other, then you can put on performances like thatAdam Lallana
“Villarreal seemed rattled. I’m not sure whether it was the atmosphere or the intensity,” he said. “We started the game fast. We knew even 0-0 at half-time we were in a good position. They tried everything but the lads were so strong mentally. Credit to everyone out there, and the manager and the fans for building the atmosphere. It really does help.
“This is our second final this year but we know we need to bring the cup home. It doesn’t matter what team is selected, whether it is attacking or defensive. The system is irrelevant as long as you’re all fighting for each other and are willing to press and willing to feel a bit of pain for each other, then you can put on performances like that.”