Juergen Klopp: Liverpool Will Respect The Europa League But Stay Focused On The Premier League

JAKARTA - Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp stated that his team will view the Europa League as "the right way" and have a squad depth to succeed in the Premier League and Europe's second caste competition. Liverpool, who have won Europe six times, have failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since Klopp's first full season in 2016-17.

They reached the Europa League final in 2016 under Klopp's leadership and he said that reaching the final again was his target.

"First and foremost, in my opinion, we all have to make sure that we all respect the competition in the right way, that we respect the opponent in the right way," Klopp told TNT Sports.

"I really want to go to the final, of course, but I have no clue if we can achieve that because there will be a lot of fantastic football teams between us and that target, so we have to make sure we perform well," he added.

Liverpool will start their Europa League campaign with a visit to LASK in Austria on Thursday 21 September before hosting West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday, September 24.

Klopp said that although talent coming from Liverpool's academy makes the club "fuel future", he will not use the Europa League as a test run for young players.

"We have real talent there, but not for experiments," he added. "I think if we don't get a big injury, then we have to have enough players to play on Thursday and Sunday with the best team, and that's the main idea."