Jurgen Klopp admitted his Liverpool side have "failed" this season as he responded to Mo Salah's emotional message to Liverpool fans.
After six consecutive top-four finishes, including their 2019/20 Premier League title win, the Reds are now confined to a fifth placed finish after Manchester United's win over Chelsea on Thursday. It means a Europa League campaign next season for Klopp and co, and moments after the final whistle gone at Old Trafford Salah took to Twitter to underline his disappointment.
"I’m totally devastated," he wrote. "There’s absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year’s Champions League and we failed. We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it’s too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down."
The Reds will finish their campaign at rock bottom Southampton on Sunday, and in his pre-match press conference, Klopp was asked about the post of his star striker. And he insisted that the Egyptian's words reflected the mood of the squad, not just his own.
"We all think like that, it's not the season we wanted," he told reporters. "If we won v Villa, we'd sit here still excited but it would be likely [United would have qualified] anyway. It's not a season to talk about, except maybe parts of it. Yes, we failed. We had our moments."
And the German boss then implied he was worried Salah's words would be taken out of context by the media, adding: "I am just worried about the headlines you create.
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"Do me a favour and try your best. It's a fact we don't have Champions League, even I knew after last game, clear. I drew a line underneath it. I am optimistic but in that moment I couldn't see it."
The cruel irony of Thursday being the day that Liverpool's hopes of dining at Europe's top table officially ended was that it came on the anniversary of one of their finest hours. The club's website and social media accounts had spent much of the day referring to the same date 18 years ago, when they fought back from 3-0 down against AC Milan to win the trophy for the fifth time.
The club's last Europa League campaign came in Klopp's first season in charge, taking over from Brendan Rodgers in October of the 2015/16 season. And it proved a memorable one, with a dramatic quarter final fightback against Borussia Dortmund the highlight of a run to the final, where they were beaten by Seville.
