Jürgen Klopp discusses Burnley challenge and the top-four battle
Jürgen Klopp suggested Liverpool should treat Wednesday's trip to Burnley in the Premier League as a 'semi-final' in their pursuit of a top-four finish.
The Reds control their own density in the battle for Champions League qualification and head to Turf Moor for their penultimate fixture of the campaign.
Alisson Becker's unforgettable, 95th-minute winner at West Bromwich Albion at the weekend maintained the squad's push and they'll now look to follow that up with three more points against the Clarets.
Read on as Klopp sat down with Premier League Productions to preview the contest with Sean Dyche's side…
On what Alisson's goal can do for the group for the remaining two games...
We knew before we played United we probably have to win four games. So you go to United, you cannot just expect to win a game there – it can happen obviously, how we saw, but it's not even easy. You win that game, you are really happy, you know [you're] still in the race, great. You go to West Brom, the whole world expects, West Brom are already relegated and should be a clear thing. With all the attitude West Brom showed, we had sitters where we could have really decided the game early but we didn't. That's the situation. Score that goal, great, 2-1 win, still in the race and now with two wins... of course we are looking forward to the game with Burnley, it's a different mindset, it's a different mood but we know how tough it will be. [It will be] the first time for ages with supporters in the stadium at Turf Moor, Sean Dyche, a proper competitive guy, the team they lost now against Leeds pretty clear, so they will want to strike back and all these kind of things. It will be a tough one but qualifying for the Champions League should be tough, so I have no problem with that. We just have to make sure that we are ready. We have to bring all you need on the pitch again.
On whether the Burnley and Crystal Palace fixtures are like a semi-final and final respectively...
Definitely. We had already, I don't know what it was, last 64 or last 32, last 16, so we had all of them already. We needed a lot of results in the last few games. I think in the last eight, if I'm right, it was six wins, two draws – and the two draws we lost pretty much in the last minute of the game. It's obviously the period where we can put some things right, but not one second in this time it was easy. It was always hardest work and waiting until the last second, the final goal against United in the 90th minute. It's a tough period but it's the year. We have the chance and actually I don't need more, so we're really looking forward to the next one.
On how big an achievement it would be to finish in the top four this season...
Massive, absolutely massive. One of the biggest achievements ever – I know how that sounds, I know, but it's the truth. Everybody here sees it like that. Whatever happened this year, it gave us the chance to hold our destiny in our own hands with two games. And it's absolutely right, yes, it's a semi-final and a final. So think about the semi-final and not the final. That's Burnley and they are really good and difficult to play, super attitude and in front of their own supporters and all these kind of things. Could it be more tricky? I'm not sure, to be honest! But that's now how it is.