Adam Lallana has insisted Liverpool are over the deflation of losing in stoppage time to Villarreal and are relishing next week’s return at Anfield, with Jürgen Klopp telling his players the Spanish club are “there for the taking”.
Liverpool were beaten for the first time in Europe this season when Adrián López’s 92nd-minute goal gave Villarreal the edge in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg. Lallana described the substitute’s strike on the counterattack as “a massive sucker punch” but claimed Liverpool were over the disappointment before they left the dressing room at the El Madrigal. He predicted another rousing European night at Anfield will help Liverpool overturn the deficit next Thursday.
“It was almost a brilliant away performance,” said Lallana. “Even 0-0 would have been a great result to take back to Anfield. But listen, these things happen. We still have massive confidence about taking them back to Anfield. It will be a completely different game.
“The manager told us: ‘Do not worry.’ He said: ‘Be disappointed for five minutes but no longer – wait until we get them back home.’ He told us that we have got the fans and then he said: ‘We will make it another magical night next week.’ It would have been easy to get deflated. It’s only natural that we are disappointed after conceding in injury time. But we are over it. The manager told us we have to be. We showed that we can create chances against them. We have got to back ourselves and we will.”
The England international believes the recent quarter-final comeback against Borussia Dortmund at Anfield will not be forgotten by both teams in the second leg. Lallana added: “The last couple of years we have got to the semi-finals of both domestic competitions. This year we have been in a final and are here in another semi-final. We put ourselves under pressure to get to finals.
“We are still in the tie. We will have a right good go next week. Anfield will be bouncing. Trust me: I cannot wait for next week. I keep thinking about Dortmund and what happened then. The fans have got a massive role to play. We are going to make it a rocking atmosphere and we will get the two goals that we need. The manager has told us that they are there for the taking.”
Danny Ings, meanwhile, stepped up his recovery from a cruciate ligament injury on Thursday when he trained with the under-21s.
