Opinion: Europa League heartbreak may be final Liverpool game for these five players

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Liverpool’s season did not finish as they may have hoped as they were beaten 3-1 by Sevilla in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

But this campaign has given Reds fans fresh hope under Jurgen Klopp, and the German will now have a summer to mould his own squad.

That means that some of the Basel boys may get the chop ahead of next term – not how they would wanted to have said goodbye.

Here, CaughtOffside predicts five Liverpool players whose outing at St Jakob-Park may well have been their last game for the Merseysiders.

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Christian Benteke

The Belgian striker has enjoyed a very indifferent first season at Anfield following his £32.5m arrival from Aston Villa – fee confirmed by Sky Sports – scoring 10 goals in 42 games in all competitions.

He was not a Klopp signing and does not fit his tactics, which suggests that he is unlikely to have a long-term future with the Reds, who might look to offload him if they can recoup enough of their money.

Joe Allen

The Welshman enjoyed some memorable moments throughout the season, but it largely passed him by because of his inability to command a regular place – he made only eight Premier League starts.

His adoring fans may want their cult hero to stay, but, according to BBC Sport, there has been no talks over an extension to a contract which expires in 2017, and Allen may be encouraged to move on.

Kolo Toure

The 35-year-old’s contract at Anfield expires this summer and Klopp will want to make bolstering his flakey defence a priority – Joel Matip has already been signed on a free transfer from Schalke 04.

If the Ivorian is bowing out, then he does so on a high after an immense man-of-the-match performance against Sevilla, which may have at least given Klopp reason to consider keeping hold of him.

Alberto Moreno

The Spaniard was Liverpool’s villain in Basel. He was arguably culpable for two of Sevilla’s goals and has been slated by a number of Reds legends for his “atrocious” defending, as the Daily Mail reports.

A left-back who can actually defend must be high on Klopp’s transfer wish-list this summer, and with Jon Flanagan, Brad Smith and Joe Gomez in reserve, Moreno’s mistakes could be a thing of the past.

Martin Skrtel

Skrtel did not actually get on the pitch at St Jakob-Park – although he was still shown a yellow card for dissent to the assistant referee – because he has fallen down the pecking order since Christmas.

Two disastrous performances against Watford and Southampton seems to have caused Klopp to lose faith in the Slovakian, who has been a good servant in his eight years at Liverpool. But his time is up.

Follow @JoeFish08 on Twitter

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