Milner: Let's not waste the special nights that got us here

The Reds will face the current holders of the tournament at St. Jakob-Park, having beaten Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal in spectacular fashion en route to Basel.

The vice-captain spoke of his desire to lift the cup when he joined skipper Jordan Henderson and boss Jürgen Klopp on Tuesday afternoon to preview the encounter with the Spanish outfit.

Read on to see what Milner had to say...

On a Champions League place for the winners being an added incentive…

I think it’s a nice bonus, but I can honestly say I don’t think we’ve thought about the Champions League too much. It’s all about winning trophies and it’s been a long road to get to this final. We’ve managed to beat a lot of good teams on the way to get here. We’ve got another tough game tomorrow and the first aim and the only aim on our mind at this time is winning that trophy and adding to the great history of this club. If we can do that and it puts us in the Champions League next year then great.

On the Liverpool supporters in Basel...

[It’s] massive. We’ve seen that throughout the campaign really, especially at home. Obviously the fans always travel brilliantly as well. But at home with a packed stadium [they’ve] managed to help us turn round a couple of tough moments in the games - obviously a good comeback against Dortmund. They’re massively important and we know they’ll follow us wherever we go, so it’s great to have them and hopefully we can give them something to cheer about tomorrow.

On playing in a European final...

You play football to be involved in the biggest games and play against the best players. This is a massive tournament with a lot of top teams in there and we’ve managed to get to the final and we want to finish the job now. We’ve put in a lot of good performances throughout and it’s all about looking back at the end of your career and seeing what you’ve won. To win any European trophy is a massive achievement. [With] the amount of good teams that are in the tournament, we’ve done very well to get to this point. It’s all about finishing the job now.

On whether games like this were the reason he joined Liverpool...

Definitely. I had a tough decision to make last year and I think I was in a fortunate position - whatever I decided to do, I would have been happy and playing at a fantastic football club. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first season here, it’s a massive football club and one that is used to winning trophies. I want to come here and add to that. We’ve put ourselves in two cup finals this year and unfortunately had a losing experience already this season. Hopefully, we can turn that around and finish the season successfully. Like I said before, this club has got a great history and is used to winning trophies. Hopefully, we can add to that and it would be the first trophy of many as a squad together and with the new manager as well.

On whether winning trophies has been forgotten about in the modern era...

You could be right with that. I think so much is put on being in the top four and Champions League. Everyone wants to play in the Champions League, it’s a great tournament and there’s a great financial benefit to that as well. Ultimately, if you look back at your career and you don’t win anything but you’ve played in the Champions League six seasons then there’s not a lot in your cabinet to look at. You want to win trophies and any European trophy is fantastic. This is such a strong competition. You see the teams that are in it and the teams we’ve managed to beat and some of the ties we’ve had along the way, it would have easily looked at home in the Champions League. We’re desperate to finish this job, it’s going to be a massive night for everyone involved and hopefully we can finish what we’ve started because we’ve had so many good performances in the run to this final and it would be a shame to waste those.

Join LFCTV and LFCTV GO for extensive Europa League final build-up and unrivalled player access. Click here for more details.