Jurgen Klopp exclusive: Liverpool boss says UEFA Europa League 'not a distraction' - 'I want to win it'

Jurgen Klopp insists the UEFA Europa League will not distract Liverpool from their attempts to win the Premier League.

The Reds currently sit in second place in the top flight after a 2-2 draw against Manchester United at the weekend.

But attentions turn to Europe this week, as Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta visit Anfield for the first leg of their quarter-final tie, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Klopp has exclusively told TNT Sports that they will not be taking their eye off the ball domestically.

"We don't need distractions, really," he insists. "The Premier League, let me say again, before the season, nobody expected us to be where we are now. That's the truth.

"I don't think anybody said 'let's have a look at what Liverpool can do' after the season we played. I understand that. We had a lot of new players coming in. Nobody knew exactly how it would work out.

"Being in it and now all of sudden getting the role handed that we have something to lose, I just do not understand it. You cannot be the challenger the whole year, nobody expects you to be there and you are there and all of a sudden you can lose it. That makes no sense.

"The United game. Look, it's strange times. We go to United in the last three weeks twice, play two great games and just don't win it. One we lose [in the FA Cup]! It's crazy, but it happened, that's how football is. And then the next game; we got a point.

"We would have been in the race even if we had lost there. It's possible. It's not a given that all the other teams win all their games.

"After the game, it probably felt more like we lost two [points]. Now, it's definitely a point we gained.

"Now that's not important in the moment, because it's a different competition. But it's not a distraction. It's just another focus. That's what is important.

"We were for a long time in four competitions. Now it's only two left, but they are intense enough. I would like us to give it a go and let's see what we can make of it. I'm very, very happy with the situation we are in, in the league and in Europe. Exciting, challenging, but positive as well."

The Europa League remains the only tournament that Klopp has not won since arriving at Anfield in 2015, although Liverpool did lose the 2016 final to Sevilla under his watch.

Since then, they have lifted the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, as well as a pair of League Cup triumphs.

And with the German set to leave Anfield in the summer, he is keen to complete the set - although not for his only personal trophy cabinet.

"It's not about me," he continued. "It's a competition we are in and I know how much it means. I'm a football person. I want to win it desperately, but not because of me. People make these kind of stories, I understand it as well, but it's just not necessary.

"In the first year, in the first half in Basel against Sevilla, it was a tough one to take. We took it and learned from it, and I hope we can use that, even though the team now is completely different.

"Sometimes you can't explain, even when you change the whole team, some things that happen in the past still effect you.

"Before the season, when we started the Europa League, we knew we wanted to go as far as somehow possible. That means in this case we have to win against Atalanta in two legs. Hopefully we can do that.

"It will be tricky. Atalanta are a well organised side. Mr Gasperini is doing an incredible job there, for so many years. He is always able to find again a way to make his team a really difficult opponent. That's what we will face.

"We will need each support we can get from the stands, to be honest, to fight them down. Obviously it's only the first leg, but the second leg is in Bergamo and probably they will get some help there as well. It's tricky, but it's the quarter-final as well, and I hope we are ready for it."

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