Football
PA Sport 8y

Liverpool's Europa League final could sell 30 million tickets - Jurgen Klopp

Manager Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool could sell 30 million tickets for their Europa League final in Basel, so there is little point in worrying about their slim allocation for St Jakob-Park.

The club have been given just 10,236 tickets in a stadium with a capacity of 35,000 for the final against defending champions Sevilla.

However, should Sevilla not sell out their similar allocation, the surplus will be passed on to Liverpool.

About 8,000 additional tickets went on general sale, with the remainder allocated to the local organising committee, national associations, commercial partners and broadcasters and the corporate hospitality programme.

Klopp brushed aside growing complaints among fans about how small Liverpool's share is by urging supporters to go to Basel to enjoy themselves.

"I think if you say, 'Who wants to go there?', you will find 30 million people who want to see the game, so we have no chance to bring all of them into the stadium," Klopp said. "It is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to play this final, but we cannot change the stadium so we cannot think about this.

"I have been to Basel one or two times, it is a wonderful stadium and a wonderful city. It is even worth going there without having a ticket for the game to be around the stadium and enjoy yourself and enjoy life as a Liverpool supporter, and that is what we should do and not worry or think about the size of the stadium or tickets you can get."

However, Klopp's views on ticketless fans enjoying the pre-match atmosphere appear to be slightly at odds with the club's policy.

After clinching a 3-1 aggregate semifinal win over Villarreal on Thursday night, Liverpool posted a statement detailing their allocation of tickets.

"To ensure the safety and well-being of fans the club urges supporters who do not have a ticket not to travel to the St Jakob-Park Stadium on the day of the game," it said.

Only once since 1998, when the UEFA Cup final became a one-off game, has it been played at a smaller venue -- in a 33,000 capacity stadium in Turin in 2014.

However, UEFA has pointed out that had the final involved any of the other semi-finalists apart from Liverpool, St Jakob-Park would be a more than adequate venue, as has been the case in previous years with the Braga-Porto final in Dublin in 2011, Sevilla vs. Benfica in Turin and Sevilla vs. Dnipro in Warsaw a year ago.

In a series of questions and answers published on UEFA's website on Friday, European football's governing body said: "Evidence from the recent finals suggests that stadium capacity and ticket allocation for supporters of the two finalists have been very satisfactory.

"For those questioning the size of the stadium for this particular final, we would like to note that the number of supporters requesting final tickets varies from club to club, and of course it is impossible to predict in advance which clubs will reach the final."

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