Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool "will take what we get" as time runs out on their bid to qualify for the Champions League.
Joel Matip's second half header at West Ham on Wednesday secured a third straight Premier League win, as Klopp's side embark on something of a mini revival at the tail-end of an erratic season. It leaves the Reds in seventh place, but still seven points off fourth placed Man United having played a game more.
But the gap to the sides in between, Tottenham and Aston Villa, is just a solitary point. And when Klopp's side host Spurs at Anfield this Sunday, the stark reality is the two sides are battling for an Europa League spot, and not a place at Europe's top table.
Arguably however, it was Liverpool's last Europa League campaign that launched Klopp as a managerial force at Anfield. Having taken over from Brendan Rodgers in October 2016, he then took the Reds on a dramatic run to the final, toppling Borussia Dortmund 5-4 on aggregate in an exhilarating quarter-final tie along the way.
It ended in a final defeat to Sevilla, but with both United and Man City in the FA Cup final, sixth place would be good enough for another tilt at UEFA's second tier club competition. A seventh placed finish however, would leave Liverpool in the Europa Conference League for the first time, but Klopp has refused to panic over his team's final placing.
Addressing the media on Friday morning, he insisted: "We will take what we get. We didn't start the season saying it will be fantastic but the season taught us a few things. We want to create a basis to qualify for the best possible scenario. Squeeze everything out."
Europa or Conference League football would undoubtedly represent a step down for Liverpool under Klopp, following six consecutive top four finishes. And the financial implications are also huge, which could potentially hamper the club's bid to attract players and rebuild in the summer.
The club have already had their hopes of signing Jude Bellingham scuppered, with Dortmund valuing the midfielder way above Liverpool's proposed £80 million fee. And the German boss has already outlined the importance of the impending break to his side: “This year must be different," he said this week.
“We have to step up. And we have to prepare that in the pre-season and that's why I want them back together as quick as somehow possible, respecting the necessity of holidays."
