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Jurgen Klopp wants 100,000 Liverpool fans in Basel for Europa League final

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp vowed to invade Basel with 100,000 supporters for the Europa League final after the Reds advanced on Thursday.

Klopp's men controlled Villarreal 3-0 in the semifinal second leg at Anfield and will go to Switzerland for the final against Sevilla on May 18.

The manager urged fans to travel as Liverpool will play for a spot in next year's Champions League -- even if they can't get a ticket in the 37,500-seat St. Jakob-Park.

"We go to Basel. We take, I don't know, 50, 60, 70,000 Liverpudlians with us. Not in the stadium, but in the city -- maybe 100,000," Klopp told BT Sport. "It is a nice city by the way, close to my home.

"Go there, create an atmosphere and let's do our best again. It's well deserved and we're really, really pleased with all the boys."

Klopp hailed his side's mental performance following a special rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" to mark the momentous Hillsborough inquest verdicts, and spoke of the hardships he overcame since taking over the team in October.

"Wonderful night, brilliant game from my side. What a performance," he said. "The first half an hour was a big emotion. It was great.

"The last 15 minutes of the first half we lost patience. The second half plan was to keep going with the emotional football but using the brain a bit more and in the end brilliant.

"Everyone spoke a lot about this team before I came here. It was all about quality and not good transfers, I came here because I thought they had a nice squad but now we are in the final -- Basel -- a longer season!"

Daniel Sturridge's goal put Liverpool ahead on aggregate, putting the striker in line to possibly start against Sevilla.

"There will always be ups and downs in football. It is about being prepared to put your body on the line and take chances," Sturridge said. "It is a great feeling."

Another goal scorer, Adam Lallana, said Liverpool deserve to play for a trophy after such a performance.

"We knew it would be a difficult night, we knew they could get the away goal but credit to the lads," he said.

"The lads deserved to be in the final and hopefully we can win it. You have to show this competition respect and I feel we have done that."