Liverpool Deal Crushing Blow to Bremen Fans
Slovakian defender Martin Škrtel celebrates scoring the opening goal in the Final
Christian Benteke bagged two goals as Liverpool were crowned Europa League champions last night, in a 0-3 victory over Werder Bremen, who managed to get just one shot on goal all night.
Wins have not been hard to come by so far this season for Brendan Rodgers' side, and this latest victory adds to their trophy tally for the season - the club had already won the Capital One Cup against Everton, and also secured the Premier League title this month.
Werder Bremen supporters, and manager Robin Dutt will not be too disappointed, however, with the club having made an instant return to the Bundesliga, after winning the 2. Bundesliga this season.
Liverpool XI vs Werder Bremen
(4-2-3-1)Courtois; Flanagan, Otamendi, Škrtel, Enrique; Kondogbia, Henderson; Shaqiri, Suárez, Coutinho; Benteke.
Subs: Mignolet, Johnson, Gerrard, Agger, Carvalho, Sterling, Stanciu.
Werder Bremen XI vs Liverpool
(4-5-1)Mielitz; Prödl, Mongongu, Heintz, Rico; Ankersen, Bargfrede, Haruna, Milik, Ott; Petersen.
Subs: Bajza, von Holt, Verlaat, von Haacke, Füllkrug, Strohmayer, Rădoi.
Turkish referee Fırat Aydınus officiated this one sided clash. Liverpool kicked off at the Estádio do Dragão but couldn't make an immediate impact in Portugal. The first noteworthy chance of the game, was in fact, the opening goal; Martin Škrtel giving his side the lead after just 24 minutes. Xherdan Shaqiri drilled a low corner towards the Slovakian, who calmly volleyed past Mielitz in the Werder goal. Minutes later, Brazilian midfielder Coutinho was booked, but from the resulting free-kick, he immediately won the ball back. The Brazilian spread it wide to Enrique, who surged down the byline and delivered an appetizing cross towards Christian Benteke, whose header unfortunately cannoned off of the crossbar.
The half time whistle blew, but after the break, Werder Bremen looked like they may be able to get back into the game at the very least - a shot from Ott trailing just wide of the goal. But, Coutinho nearly put the game to bed with less than five minutes gone in the second half, hitting the crossbar from 20 yards. 54 minutes into the game, however, this unfortunate miss was avenged by Benteke, who scooped a low cross from Xherdan Shaqiri across goal and into the net.
Then came the killing blow. More linkup play between Shaqiri and Benteke inside the penalty area allowed the Belgian to score into an open net, the goalkeeper outfoxed by the sudden pass from Shaqiri. The full time whistle blew and Liverpool celebrated an impressive treble for the season, while Werder Bremen will need to recover from this instantly if they harbor hopes of surviving the drop next season.