Sturridge: We have to take it on the chin and learn from it
Daniel Sturridge admitted Liverpool have to 'take it on the chin' and learn from the disappointment of defeat in the Europa League final on Wednesday night.
The striker opened the scoring against Sevilla in Basel with a delightful swerving finish from the left corner of the area, but the moment proved the only high for the Reds at St. Jakob-Park.
Kevin Gameiro equalised in the first minute of the second half and Coke followed up with a quickfire double to secure a 3-1 result and ensure the trophy returned to Spain again.
“It’s hard to put into words what happened out there,” Sturridge told Liverpoolfc.com after the final whistle.
“As a team, we were unlucky. I felt like [in] the first half we worked very hard and put everything into it and in the second half we probably got stunned a little bit with the goal.
“And from there, I wouldn’t say it was an uphill struggle, but it was probably the experience we kind of lacked in terms of keeping calm. We were unlucky, I wouldn’t like to come out of this game and say we didn’t work our socks off.
“We probably didn’t play to the level we could’ve played, but it’s one of those games where you learn from your mistakes.”
He added: “I feel like when you work so hard to get where you are, you’re in a final and this is the stage for everyone to step up – and it was unlucky for us to not be able to perform as well as we’d have liked to.
“It’s one of those games where you take it on the chin.”
The No.15, who insisted his strike was irrelevant given the final outcome of the game, also had a message for the supporters that travelled out to Switzerland.
“I just want to thank the fans for travelling out here and making it feel like a home game for us,” said Sturridge.
“It was unfortunate that we didn’t quite perform to the level we could have to lift the trophy for them.”