Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge insists that Sevilla received plenty of help from the referee and officials in their 3-1 win over the Reds in the Europa League final last night.

The Merseyside giants were the dominant team in the first half at St. Jakob-Park in Basel and took the lead in the 35th minute through Daniel Sturridge.




Liverpool had two handball appeals turned down and a goal disallowed in the first half as Sevilla hung on.

But the game completely turned on its head in the second half as Kevin Gamiero equalised from Sevilla’s very first move after the restart.
 


Coke then made it 2-1 for Sevilla in the 64th minute before the Spaniard doubled his side’s lead under dubious circumstances six minutes later as Liverpool’s vehement appeals to the referee that the goal was offside fell on deaf ears.

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And Aldridge, who praised Sevilla’s second half performance, however, was thoroughly disappointed with the referring decisions in the final.

“We were thinking the game should have been out of sight of Sevilla with a bit of luck and decisions in particular”, he said after the game on LFC TV.

“The decisions tonight, I just couldn’t believe what I’ve seen tonight in a final.

“I don’t want to blame the referee, I thought Sevilla were brilliant in the second half.

“They turned it around, got the early goal, but they got an awful lot of help along the way.”