Sevilla have the chance to make history by winning the Europa League for a third year in succession – a feat that no club has ever managed before.Standing in their way of doing that in Basel on Wednesday night are Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side, who have been extremely impressive in their run to the final.Gazzetta World report that only twice before in this competition, both under the old UEFA Cup guise and the current incarnation, have teams won two successive titles – Real Madrid and incidentally, Sevilla – but never has a side managed to make it a hat-trick.That is the opportunity that awaits the Andalusian outfit in Switzerland if they can prevent Liverpool from picking up their first European title since stunning AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005.Interestingly, something simply has to give at St Jakob-Park because these sides have appeared in seven Europa League/UEFA Cup finals between them, four for Sevilla and three for the Reds, and neither has ever tasted defeat.Injuries and SuspensionsDespite there being a concern over the fitness of Liverpool talisman Jordan Henderson, he is expected to make his recovery from injury in time to take to the field.Divock Origi is currently trying to shake off an ankle injury and will face a late fitness test but goalkeeper Danny Ward as well as Joe Gomez and Jordan Rossiter are all to miss out, as does Mamadou Sakho through suspension.
For Unai Emery’s men, the only injury concerns hang over Jose Antonio Reyes and Michael Krohn-Dehli, neither of whom have made an appearance since last month.HistoryWednesday marks the first ever meeting between the two. It is the Merseyside outfit’s 12th European final, having previously played in seven Champions League/European Cup finals, three in the UEFA Cup and one in the European Cup Winners’ Cup.They do have previous experience of taking on Spanish opposition in finals though and were victorious on both occasions, against Real Madrid in 1981 and then against Alaves 20 years later.Sevilla, who are already the first team ever to reach three straight finals, thrashed English opposition at this stage of the competition when they beat Middlesbrough 4-0 a decade ago, thanks to an inspirational display from Enzo Maresca.
The Spaniards also have previous experience of playing at Wednesday’s venue in this year’s Europa League, having drawn 0-0 with Basel in March, as they eliminated the host club.Player to Watch: Kevin GameiroScoring first in these finals has typically proven to be very important. Only once in the past 10 years has the team who netted first not gone on to lift the trophy.That came last year when Fiorentina’s Nikola Kalinic put Dnipro in front early only for current AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca to turn the tide in Sevilla’s favour and Gameiro can perform a similar role this time around.Of Sevilla’s 14 goals in this year’s competition, he has actively participated in nine of them, with seven scored and making two assists, which includes six strikes and two assists in his last five games.
