Jurgen Klopp happy to be back in top four

A thumping 3-0 away victory at Burnley on Wednesday brought Liverpool back into the Champions League places. The Reds are fourth in the Premier League table, edging out Leicester City on goal difference. Goals from Roberto Firmino, Nathaniel Phillips and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at Turf Moor, have put Liverpool in a commanding position to secure the fourth spot on the final league day of the season.

Klopp is understandably happy to be in the top four places. “I couldn’t be more pleased, to be honest. I never expected that,” he said in the post-match press conference. “It’s not that I take this for granted, I knew this season is for us an incredibly tough, tough season. I heard now that on Valentine’s Day, February 14, was the last time we were in the top four because we didn’t win a lot of games since then.”

“But now in the last eight, 10, I don’t know exactly how many games, we are back on track and if we win on Sunday then probably – it depends on the result of Leicester or Chelsea – then we are probably qualified for the Champions League.”

The Liverpool manager, however, warned his boys that the top four is not yet secured and they have to give their all on Sunday against Crystal Palace. “It’s insane that we came that close, but we are not through. When you win the semi-final you go to the final. That’s where we are and we will give our absolute everything to win that as well,” he elaborated.

Firmino opened the scoring in the 43rd minute of the contest before Phillips scored his first goal for the club. It was followed by a clinical finish from substitute Oxlade-Chamberlain in the second half. Klopp said the secret behind their recent success was to focus only on one game at a time. “Just keep going, keep believing, keep improving. Don’t put two games in one, like thinking about this or that – stay focused on the next one, don’t think about the game after that,” he added.

“These kind of things, it’s not massive, you just have to keep going and that’s what we did. It’s incredibly tough for the boys in the moment and you need to be lucky in moments as well, that’s clear. For tonight it was good enough and we need to make sure we will be good enough as well on Sunday.”