Liverpool boss unhappy after Europa League exit
Liverpool’s strikers are to blame for their elimination from this season’s Europa League competition, according to Brendan Rodgers.
The Reds lost 1-0 last night in Turkey to Besiktas, levelling the score on aggregate after the Premier League side won 1-0 in the first leg.
After a goalless extra-time, the game went to penalties and after all nine takers converted, it was down to Dejan Lovren to send the game to sudden death. However, the Croat blasted his penalty over and sent Liverpool out of the competition.
After the game, Rodgers wasn’t critical of the penalties, but was more annoyed about the lack of threat in the final third.
“I’m disappointed, of course, to go out in the manner we did,” said Rodgers. “I thought we created opportunities in the first half to make it really difficult for them.
“Over the course of the game, we defended very, very well and limited them to very few chances.
“We created chances in the first half. We were missing a lot of our creativity (with the absent players), but it’s no excuse.
“The one mistake we made we got punished for when we were too deep for the moment they scored. It was a tight game and we just didn’t manage to finish the opportunities that we had.
“I can only give credit to my players even though we went out on penalties.
“Good luck to Besiktas and their supporters. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a good place for us this time in the Ataturk.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
