Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp couldn't believe his ears when a reporter asked whether finishing fifth in the Premier League is a "booby prize".
The Reds will play in the Europa League next season after finishing behind champions Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle in the Premier League. It'll be their first campaign without Champions League football in seven years.
Playing in the Europa League is sometimes viewed as a hindrance due to games being played on a Thursday, but Klopp doesn't see it that way. The Liverpool boss believes it's a "massive prize" to win and wants to reach the final in Dublin in 12 months' time.
Klopp was speaking to the press ahead of Liverpool's final Premier League game of the season against Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday. The laughter started when a reporter asked Klopp whether he thought earning a Europa League spot was a booby prize.
Smiling, Klopp replied: "A what?" When the reporter repeated his question, Klopp asked: "What's that?" The reporter and Liverpool's press officer then told the bemused German a booby prize is something you don't want to win.
Klopp answered "no" to the question before laughing: "A booby? I needed to become fifth to learn that word!"
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Once the laughter stopped, Klopp gave a serious answer. He said: "No, it’s not for me. I understand where you are coming from. On the level we usually perform it is about Champions League because of the money, because of the opponents and all this.
"It is not that I follow in the last four years group stage games of the Europa League a lot because when you are in the Champions League you have a lot of other things to do but I love European competitions. And for me that’s no different.
"I know when you play there’s no difference. There will be difficult opponents, different countries probably and in the end a massive prize to win. Not that I say now we will do that, but we will try it, definitely."
Liverpool will be regarded as one of the favourites to win the Europa League after reaching three Champions League finals in five seasons, winning once. Klopp will also be determined to avenge their Europa League final defeat to Sevilla in 2016.
Brighton, Freiburg, Toulouse and Sporting are the only other teams to have booked their place in the Europa League. The winners of the Europa Conference League final between Fiorentina and West Ham will join Liverpool in UEFA's secondary club competition.
Klopp added: "People may think in this moment, 'Ah, it’s just the Europa League. But I am 100 per cent sure that come the first whistle, Thursday night, whoever the opponent, Anfield will be rocking. That is all I need."
