LONDON, March 6, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Jurgen Klopp insists the solid
foundations he has laid at Liverpool will ensure his troubled club are never
faced with a long absence from the Champions League.
Klopp is fighting to salvage a dismal season by lifting Liverpool into the
Premier League’s top four to guarantee qualification for next season’s
Champions League.
They are currently four points behind fourth placed Chelsea after five
successive home defeats.
If Liverpool cannot finish in the top four, the soon-to-be dethroned
English champions will have to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition by
winning the Champions League this term.
They hold a 2-0 first leg lead against Leipzig in the last 16.
But regardless of Liverpool’s fate this season, Klopp is convinced the six-
time Champions League winners won’t go back to the wilderness years when they
spent six campaigns from 2010-11 either in the Europa League or out of Europe
completely.
“This club will not be a regular out of the Champions League – this year is
difficult we know that, but the potential and the power of the club is a
completely different one,” Klopp said.
“I do not know the team 10 years ago but we are ready for a battle in this
era, and with the team we have together.
“Seasons have momentum and we never really got it this year, that is true,
but this club is in a really good position.
“In a difficult time obviously, but in a better position than other clubs I
would say.
“I obviously did not think about what happened in the past but what I can
say nobody has to worry about the future of the club because it is in good
hands and has a really good team together, and so that is obviously the basis
for a good future.”
The loss of Champions League football would mean Liverpool take a
significant financial hit on top of the ongoing effects of the coronavirus
pandemic.
It could also affect the composition of the squad in the summer transfer
window.
But Klopp struck a hard line when asked if players for whom the Champions
League was a priority might consider leaving.
“I know we have loyalty from the players. It is not a situation where a
player in the squad says, ‘We are not in the Champions League so I have to
leave’. That will not happen. I know them well enough to know that,” he said.
“The club is in a different situation and it will not be an issue with new
players I can say that. “We said it years back if a player does not want to
come to us because we don’t play Champions League next season then I don’t
want him.
“And if a player wants to leave because we don’t play Champions League then
I don’t want him. It is not a personal thing, but it is always like this.”