Jurgen Klopp laments 'massive task' of getting Liverpool back into Champions League

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Jurgen Klopp laments 'massive task' of getting Liverpool back into Champions League

Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool face a 'massive task' trying to get back into the Champions League after their exit to Real Madrid.

Liverpool were thoroughly beaten across two legs of their round of 16 clash with the European champions, losing the first leg 5-2 at Anfield - despite going two goals up inside 15 minutes - and then losing the second 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Reds relied heavily on some miraculous saves from Alisson Becker to keep parity until the final 15 minutes of the game on Wednesday, before Karim Benzema grabbed the winner.

With Liverpool currently six points adrift of the Champions League places in the Premier League, after the game at the Bernabeu Klopp admitted that his team will struggle to get back into Europe's top competition next season.

"With the history we have in this competition we start usually with the idea of winning it," he said. "It is 'the' competition and we want to be part of it every year and that is now a massive task for us.

"We come back from the international break and we have a proper football week ahead of us with three games - City, Chelsea, Arsenal - which will then probably define where we get out of it. This week is a pretty decisive one.

"Our job is to squeeze everything out of this season. It is clear we want to be top four."

Immediately after the international break Klopp's side will travel to the Etihad Stadium to face off against title challengers Manchester City.