Players and coaching staff from Liverpool FC have been looking ahead to the Europa League final, which takes place in Basel on Wednesday evening (18 May 2016). The Reds face reigning champions Sevillia for the cup, which also offers a place in the UEFA Champions League to the victors.

Despite this lucrative prize, Liverpool vice-captain James Milner has emphasised that the club are focused on winning the competition, and not just qualification for the Champions League.

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He said: "Ultimately you want to win trophies, and any European trophy is fantastic. This is such as strong competition now when you see the teams that are in it and the teams we have managed to beat and some of the ties we have had along the way, they would easily have looked at home in the Champions League".

He added: "Ultimately, if you look back at your career and you don't win anything, but you have played in the Champions League six seasons, then there is not much in your cabinet to look at."

This is to be the second final of the season for the Merseyside club, who lost on penalties to Manchester City in the Capital One Cup earlier in the season. Manager Jurgen Klopp took over the club in October 2015, and now has the opportunity to win a European trophy in his first season in charge.

Club captain Jordan Henderson praised Klopp's impact on the team. The midfielder said: "I think he has put a spirit of belief and a mentality not only through the players but also the fans, the whole club, and I think that has built during the six or seven months that he has been here. I think we went up a level, the whole team. Every single player went up a level."

Sevilla have won the Europa League in two consecutive seasons, and this final gives them the chance to become the only club to ever win three in a row. The Spaniards finished seventh in La Liga this season.

"Big respect for the whole Sevilla squad", said Klopp. "They really deserved to be in this final, they had too a hard way to go. So I like this. Both teams really took this tournament as a very, very important thing, and now we are here."

Liverpool FC Champions League