Is Liverpool’s Champions league qualification dream all but over?

Liverpool showed tremendous promise in the last few games and the fans started dreaming about a Champions league spot for the next season. However, their ambitions received a major blow after their 3-2 loss at the hands of Southampton over the weekend. Liverpool were leading by two goals in the first 22 minutes and they showcased a brilliant first half performance. But the second half was miserable defensively and they managed to concede three and eventually lost the game.

This vulnerability at the back has been a problem for Liverpool and their defensive weakness has cost them quite some points this season. Liverpool manager was disappointed at the result and this is what he had to say in the post-match press conference –

“I’m not that good a loser so I don’t feel brilliant, as you can imagine. But I’ve been around long enough to know this can happen in football.

If we play like we did in the first half, we can win – if we play the way we did in the second, it is more difficult. We played a perfect first half and could have scored more, but we had a few problems in the second half and we could have done better.”

However, the manager did make a very optimistic statement by saying if his team manages to score all 27 points from the remaining games then a Champions league spot might just be a dream come true. Liverpool have also advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa league and thus have another alternate way of qualifying for Europe’s biggest competition. The manager will have to make tough choices ahead and have a perfect team balance so as to assure good results in both the competitions.

In the premiere league, Liverpool have some tough fixtures lined up against the likes of Tottenham, Everton, Stoke City and Chelsea. Winning each and every game will be next to impossible for the Liverpool boss. Another alternative is the Europa League but Liverpool will be facing Borussia Dortmund who knocked out Tottenham with an aggregate score-line of 5-1. This road is equally tough for Klopp and he knows it. Liverpool’s chances of booking a Champions league spot are looking very dubious and it will be a miraculous end to the season if they actually manage to make a cut through.