Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes his side have grown comfortable in the Europa League after a slow start in the group stage of the competition.

The Reds defeated Villarreal in the semi-final on Thursday to book their place in their first European final since 2007.

When asked about the achievement, Klopp said: "To go to a final, you need a little bit of luck in decisive moments. But most of the time you need outstanding performances.

"When I came here, the tournament didn't sound too nice for the people – three draws or something like that. It was a difficult group I thought and we came through with a nice game in Russia. That was good.

"We felt really comfortable in this tournament. We liked to go to different countries and adapt to different circumstances and temperatures. I like this in football. The problem was, around these games we had so many other games and so we couldn't really be focused on this.

"I think, especially in 2016, the team has showed a lot of times what they are capable of and what they could be capable of in the future. That's a really good sign. That's more important for me as a manager. But then when you perform in the right moments like we did tonight, or against Dortmund or against United or Augsburg then you want to have more.

"That's what we try now. Europe is big and a lot of teams want to go to finals, it's not too easy. Now we are there. It's a great opportunity and we will take it as an opportunity."