How Twitter Reacted to Liverpool's Europa League Final Defeat to Sevilla

It was supposed to be Liverpool's night. After earning famous wins over Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal, Liverpool found themselves in Basel, Switzerland, facing a Sevilla side of a lesser European pedigree than their own—though they'd seen much more recent success. Before kick-off, Reds fans seemed confident Jurgen Klopp would deliver silverware in his debut season with the club:

"

Tonight is the night #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/SOoF98emCR

— bird is the word (@BirdBradley) May 18, 2016"

Unfortunately, the excitement was a little too much for some in the stadium before kick-off, as fighting broke out in a non-segregated area:

"

Crowd trouble already .. What a disgrace #EuropaLeagueFinal

— Conor (@fezzerbah) May 18, 2016"

"

Not sure if fans fighting or a scene from The Matrix... #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/1vmWNsc60M

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) May 18, 2016"

"

Good to see the fans helping each other out from wasps. This is what football is all about. #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/Ujd97fCLwV

— Victor Dumawa (@VictorDumawa) May 18, 2016"

As is traditional whenever Liverpool play, the buzzword on Twitter was "atmosphere":

"

Fair play to Liverpool atmosphere looks unreal

— G (@BilGreenwood) May 18, 2016"

After around 10 minutes of play, Liverpool fans felt they might have had the first of many penalty shouts when Daniel Carrico handled in the area:

"

RT- Penalty
Like- No Penalty #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/J8gJnzEKw4

— TheSportsHangout (@Sports_Hangout) May 18, 2016"

In the 35th minute, Daniel Sturridge set the Reds' destiny in motion by opening the scoring:

"

Edge of the box. Outside of the boot. Far corner. Perfection??? All hail king Sturridge. #LIVSEV pic.twitter.com/4lXIxCNtPg

— Copa90 (@Copa90) May 18, 2016"

"

BOOOOOM pic.twitter.com/dMCaDcKjAn

— Liverpool Gifs (@LiverpoolGifs) May 18, 2016"

Sevilla appeared to handle the ball on numerous occasions, something that didn't go unnoticed on Twitter:

"

Actual footage from #Sevilla training camp.#EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/jYOAG0KxxQ

— whoareyadesigns (@whoareyadesigns) May 18, 2016"

At half-time, Liverpool fans were very happy:

"

Incredible first half, could have scored more and had at least one penalty but we've got them rattled big time  #LFC #EuropaLeagueFinal

— Will (@WillHaighton123) May 18, 2016"

"

Half time in Basel. Every Liverpool fan right now.. #LIVSEV #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/PWtFmQcFOu

— Copa90 (@Copa90) May 18, 2016"

However, just 18 seconds into the second half, it all started to go wrong when Sevilla found the equaliser:

"

Under 20 seconds..  #LFC #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/3ciBBP3ubP

— Stuart Cox (@scox261) May 18, 2016"

"

IT JUST GOT INTERESTING #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/OxKKh4lqWL

— ㅤㅤㅤ (@Zabaholic) May 18, 2016"

Around the hour mark, Simon Mignolet made a wonderful save to deny Kevin Gameiro:

"

Migs! pic.twitter.com/6XFFP2EhfL

— Liverpool Gifs (@LiverpoolGifs) May 18, 2016"

In the 64th minute, Liverpool went behind when Coke found the net:

"

Let's hope Liverpool Fans know the difference between Coke and Pepsi now... pic.twitter.com/mE3BS9m9kq

— Football Trolls (@Footballltrolls) May 18, 2016"

Things went beyond the Reds' reach when Coke was gifted plenty of space and time to make it 3-1:

"

3-1. Sevilla. #EuropaLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/hUwBY2EOzc

— Upper 90 Soccer (@u90soccer) May 18, 2016"

After such a hopeful start, it finished 3-1 to Sevilla, who picked up their third straight Europa League title:

[Twitter]