Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool face a “massive task” to regain their place in the Champions League after they slipped out of the competition in disappointing fashion.
The Reds were beaten 1-0 by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night to lose 6-2 on aggregate in their round of 16 tie.
They must now concentrate on finishing in the top four in the Premier League, with Klopp’s side six points adrift in sixth place with a game in hand.
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With a free weekend followed by the international break, Liverpool are next in action at the beginning of April when they travel to champions Manchester City and Chelsea before entertaining runaway leaders Arsenal inside eight days.
And asked if the occasion in Spain proves why Liverpool need to secure qualification, Klopp said: “Absolutely. With the history we have in this competition, we start usually in the competition with the idea of winning it, to be honest. We reached a few times the final, we didn’t win the final often that’s true but we were there three times in the last few years.
“That’s why I really believe if you want to win the competition, you have to be outstanding. And we weren’t tonight and that’s fair why we go out.
“But it’s THE competition and we want to be a part of it every year, and that’s now a massive task for us. We all know that.
“When we come back from the international break we have a proper football week ahead of us, I would say, with three games – City, Chelsea and Arsenal. They will probably define where we get out of it.
“People might say we lost it at Bournemouth but I think this week is a pretty decisive one. We have to hope now the boys come back healthy and early enough and in the right shape and we will try it.”
Klopp added: “Our job is to squeeze absolutely everything out of the season what is possible. It’s a strange one so far. Our recent two games, a sensational performance against Manchester United who are a really good football team, then a really bad performance against Bournemouth who are a good team but we shouldn’t lose that game.
“It has put us under pressure. It we had three most points people could feel our breath or smell but there is now distance as the other teams have won their games.”
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