Jurgen Klopp has been branded ‘ridiculous’ for claiming a top-four finish for Liverpool this season would be one of his ‘biggest achievements’ as a manager.
On Thursday, the Reds sealed a 3-0 victory against Burnley to return to the Champions League qualification places for the first time since February.
AFP
Liverpool’s sixth win in eight Premier League games means they are just one win away from cementing their spot in Europe’s elite competition next term.
It comes after a turbulent season where arguably their most important player, Virgil van Dijk, has been sidelined since October and their worst run of form at Anfield in their illustrious history, where they lost a whopping SIX games in a row at their home stadium – where they were previously unbeatable.
Klopp, however, labelled the fact they were this close to reaching the top four as ‘insane’ as he praised his players following the Burnley win.
“I couldn’t be more pleased,” said the German. “It is not that we took these things for granted.
“February was the last time we were in the top four and we didn’t win a lot of games since then. In the last eight or ten games, I don’t know how many, we are back on track.
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“If we win on Sunday [against Crystal Palace at Anfield in their final game of the season] then we are probably qualified for the Champions League.
“It’s insane that we came this close but we are not through yet. It looks like the timing is right but it is not done yet.
“When you win the semi-final you go to a final and that’s where we are. We will give our absolute everything.”
Ahead of the game, when asked about a possible top four finish, Klopp replied: “Massive, absolutely massive. One of the biggest achievements ever. I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth. Everybody here sees it like that, everybody.”
However, talkSPORT host Jason Cundy was not having that from Klopp as he reacted to Wednesday evening’s football action on the Sports Bar.
talkSPORT
“It’s just to appease Liverpool fans,” said the former Chelsea defender.
“When you do talk about Liverpool’s season, you have to say they have had a huge amount of injuries. It’s undeniable.
“But – and it’s a big but – their form literally fell of the edge of a cliff, especially their home form. They were were breaking all sorts of records.
“Then to lose the amount they did put them in a precarious position and it looked really unlikely that they’d get top four.
“But credit because they’ve done well to get in there but Klopp doesn’t even believe that.
“If Thomas Tuchel came in – they were eighth when he came in – I’d be embarrassed if Tuchel came out and said it was one of his greatest achievements to get top four.”
It was far from the classiest performance from Liverpool but at this stage of the season getting a fourth successive victory was all that mattered, with Roberto Firmino, Nathaniel Phillips and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain grabbing the points at Turf Moor.
“Really mature performance. It was not a world-class start; at the beginning we were nervous with our passing,” Klopp added after the match.
“But after 15 minutes we found our feet back and we played some really good football.
“We missed the two biggest chances of the game at the beginning but we scored a wonderful goal, the second goal from Nat was outstanding skill from Sadio and a great header and the third goal was Oxlade at his best.
“The way Burnley went for our centre-halves with the way they played it is so tricky to defend and the boys did really well. We needed each single performance on the pitch.”
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