Jurgen Klopp has admitted that the Europa League can salvage a ‘difficult’ season for Liverpool.
Villarreal take a one-goal advantage into tomorrow night’s semi-final second leg at Anfield as the Reds target a second final in their first half-season under Klopp’s tutelage.
The German’s formative months in charge of the Reds have not been without difficulty since he succeeded Brendan Rodgers last October.
And the Liverpool manager believes that reaching next month’s showpiece in Basel would help ease what has, at times, been a problematic campaign.
He said: “This game is a big opportunity in a difficult season for Liverpool.
“In October, Liverpool changed the manager. That’s not a sign for the perfect situation. We had still problems [with] injuries until October, and from October on.
“Sometimes we played really good and sometimes not that good. We had only two bad games – Watford (in December) and now Swansea. Swansea is a different game to Watford because we changed the line-up.
“This team is building up consistency, step by step. I don’t know how far we are on our way. This team, these players gave me very positive signs about their quality.
“We are ready, all we did since October we did to be perfectly prepared for a game like this tomorrow.”