Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confessed his side's chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season are already very slim.
The defending Premier League champions have tumbled down to sixth in the standings this year. They currently sit five points adrift of the top four and are competing against teams who have started to find their form at the right time.
It's obviously still possible for Liverpool to mount a comeback, but a run of six defeats in their last eight Premier League games has Klopp worried that his side may have given themselves too much to do in the race for Champions League qualification.
"I like to be an optimist, but in the league it is almost impossible to qualify in the competition for the Champions League places that we have," Klopp told Bild (via Sky Sports News). "At Tottenham, Gareth Bale is now playing again, and they are also in the running. Plus (Manchester) City and United, who are far away.
"Chelsea is on the rise. Reaching Champions League qualification through the league will be difficult, we know that."
An unconventional way of qualifying for the tournament next year would be to win the whole thing this year. Chelsea did just that in the 2011/12 season, with their victory over Bayern Munich in the final masking the fact they finished sixth in the Premier League.
However, while Klopp admitted that winning the Champions League looks unlikely for his side this year, he insisted that the idea of missing out on Europe's top competition does not have him fearing for his job.
"You don't usually win the Champions League itself in a year with injury worries as big as we have," Klopp continued. "Then in the worst case it will be next year: no Champions League, maybe Europa League, although that is not guaranteed either.
"It would mean a huge financial loss. I am aware, in almost all football clubs in the world, I would be questioned in a situation like our current one. This is completely normal, reality, the business. I would accept that immediately.
"But it's different here in Liverpool. Our owners, the sports director, even the players, nobody doubts anyone here. We have accepted the situation for ourselves and fight our way through it. Even if there has never been anything like it after a championship then we'll be the first to fight our way, as a large, successful club.
"If we don't play internationally (in Europe) at all, that means more time to relax. That would be bad for all other teams because training is good for us. If we had more time, we could take advantage of it. We would try to turn the bad situation into something good."
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Source : 90min