Liverpool ‘stopped playing football’ v Sevilla: Klopp

Jurgen Klopp felt Liverpool ‘stopped playing football’ as they squandered a three-goal half-time lead to throw away the chance of early Champions League qualification.

Roberto Firmino scored either side of a goal from Sadio Mane in an opening 45 minutes which could not have been better scripted for Jurgen Klopp’s visitors.

However, a worrying wobble saw them concede twice to Wissam Ben Yedder – one a twice-taken penalty – in the 15 minutes after the interval and Guido Pizarro drilled home an added-time corner.

Liverpool threw away the chance of early Champions League qualification against Sevilla

Guido Pizarro drilled home an added-time corner as Sevilla came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3

Klopp told BT Sport: ‘It was a very good first half and not a very good second half. We stopped playing football in the second half and let them come back in the game.’

When asked if Liverpool had been complacent, Klopp said: ‘We were confident up to that first half and then we were too late in a situation, the whole formation was too late.

‘They had the free-kick and the header and the penalty. The real problem is that we stopped playing football.

Liverpool will still win Group E if they beat Spartak Moscow at home in a fortnight 

‘3-0 is a wonderful result, there is nothing bad to say about that at half time, but you have to stay in the game. It was 50 minutes [when Sevilla scored their first goal], that’s a long time to try and stay in the game, you can score 10 times in that if you want.

‘We wanted to control, but we got passive, we were a little bit too deep. They fought back, big credit to them, but we had to do it differently’.

Liverpool will still win Group E if they beat Spartak Moscow at home in a fortnight, however Klopp admits it feels worse than the situation really is.

He said: ‘It feels like we lost, but we didn’t lose. There is a game to go and it is still in our own hands – but at the moment it is really bad.’