If we want Champions League football then we need to play really good football, proclaims Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool to try and finish the season on a high after being eliminated from the Champions League quarter-final by Real Madrid. The Reds are currently sitting at 7th on the table, three points away from securing a Champions League spot. with seven games left to play.
Liverpool has suffered nine premier league defeats this season owing much of it to the absence of their star player Virgil Van Dijk. The Dutch centre back suffered a serious ACL injury against Everton in October it saw him ruled out for the rest of the season with Joe Gomez joining him soon after on the injury table. That more than anything has affected Liverpool's form with them struggling immensely to replicate their form from last season.
However, while the Reds were doing well in the Champions League, a 3-1 aggregate loss to Real Madrid has seen them knocked out at the quarter-finals stage with the focus now shifted to their domestic campaign. With just seven games left to play for the remainder of the campaign, Liverpool have to bridge the gap to the top four and it has seen Jurgen Klopp admit that his side need to concentrate and respect the situation they are in.
“We are not silly. We want what we earn. If we don’t earn it 100% then we respect the situation. We concentrate on what we do and what we have to. It is tough, we are still not in hotseat and we play at Leeds United on Monday. That is a tough one, they are the most physical team in the Premier League pretty much so you better run a lot yourself,” Klopp said, reported by Goal.
"It has nothing to do with confidence. I am naturally confident but that doesn’t mean we will end up there. We know the points we have, we know the table, we know the situation. We don’t have to talk too much about it. If we want [Champions League football] then we should play really good football which we did tonight but if we want to go through we should finish the situations off on top of it."
The Reds currently sit in sixth place on the league table with them two points behind fifth-place Chelsea and three behind fourth-place West Ham United which makes their task even tougher with seven games to go. That saw Klopp admit that Liverpool aren't in a bad place at the moment despite their Champions League knockout especially after wins over Arsenal and Aston Villa but they have to keep fighting going ahead.
“We are not in a bad moment. We played really well and got a late winner against Aston Villa, we played really good against Arsenal and not good against Real Madrid in first leg, but we were not bad tonight. We really have to keep going and keep fighting, we want the Champions League next year, but we have to pick up more points than a lot of other teams," he added.