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Jurgen Klopp has vowed to go all out for Europa League glory as he admitted: “This is our best chance of getting back in the Champions League.”

The Liverpool boss is set to field his strongest possible line up in Thursday night's last 32 first leg clash with Augsburg at the WWK Arena.

Klopp admits the Reds, who find themselves nine points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City in the Premier League, are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League via their domestic form.

However, the German believes Liverpool should be serious contenders in the Europa League – a trophy which gives the winners a golden ticket into Europe's elite.

“We are in the last 32 and we can see the line,” Klopp said.

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“How many points in the league are we away from the Champions League? I think it is nine. So, yeah, at this moment I would say we have a better chance this way at the moment.

“Maybe the top four clubs will have a crisis. But we have to solve our own problems. We have to be at the highest motivation for the game.

“For sure the Europa League is not the shortest way to get to the Champions League. It's a really hard way and not the normal road.

“But the chance to qualify for the Champions League makes it more interesting. Ask Sevilla who would have qualified many times if the rule was in place.”

Sweet 16

Liverpool haven't got past the last 32 of the Europa League since they beat Sparta Prague five years ago. Since then they have fallen at this hurdle against both Zenit St Petersburg and Besiktas.

Going all the way in the competition would involve a further nine matches and the likes of Porto, Tottenham, Sevilla, Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen, Valencia, Galatasaray, Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk currently stand in their path.

But Klopp has his sights set on a trip to Basel's St Jakob-Park for the final in May.

“A few teams in the world can think about winning the Europa League and I think we are one of these teams,” he said.

“We don't have to say 'we have no chance'. But if you look at the teams in the competition now it is like a little Champions League. There are a lot of high quality teams in it.

“Sometimes you can look at winning a cup as the shortest way to get somewhere.

“I think there are a few teams when the competition starts that think they can win it. I think we are one of these teams.”

Klopp already has experience of a major European final having led Borussia Dortmund to Wembley in the Champions League in 2013.

On that occasion rivals Bayern Munich triumphed courtesy of Arjen Robben's late winner but the Reds boss insists that crushing disappointment doesn't give him extra motivation to go one better with Liverpool.

“No. To win football games, especially finals, you need a little bit of luck,” he said.

“Everyone knows this. It is how Liverpool won their Champions League final. It was not due to the brilliance, it was the fight which was great.

“We had nil luck in the game (v Bayern). I know this. The best thing we could do was get to this final.

“I do not think you should personalise a victory, in that case for the club to reach the final, or minimise it because you lost 2-1 in a great game in the biggest final you can get to.

“We were the better team for half-an-hour so I took a lot from that game and the result was only one piece of the information.

“I don’t need it if I come here and you say ‘he’s a Champions League winner’. It makes no difference to me. I am fine. I tried everything and we tried everything to win that game but we didn’t. Life goes on. That’s what I say as a survivor of that.”

Settled side

Liverpool used 24 players en route to winning their Europa League group but Klopp is now ready to play a more settled side.

The Reds' injury problems have eased following the return to action of attacking trio Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi.

With plenty of recovery time after Sunday's 6-0 rout of Aston Villa and no upcoming weekend fixture to concern himself with, Klopp admits there's no need to ring the changes against Augsburg.

After such a stop-start few months, Liverpool need to gather some momentum with the Capital One Cup final against Manchester City on the horizon.

“We haven’t been able to pick a consistent team so far for different reasons,” Klopp added.

“If you have a pre-season and no injuries then you can play a lot of times with a similar if not the same team. The biggest teams in the world are doing this.

“I don’t want to compare ourselves with Barcelona but three of these players play all of the time.

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“I cannot think of a game when Cristiano Ronaldo has not played in the last six or seven years. It is all about being fit and being in the rhythm.

“What we have tried to do so far is pick a team to go to the next round or to win the game.

“The Premier League for us is the most important tournament. At this moment we are three points behind in qualifying for the Europa League (via our league position).

“There is a lot consider. We don’t want to judge because of a tournament, we judge based on rhythm, form, shape and the possibility to beat the opponent. We haven’t been able to do this until now (because of injuries). This is the truth and you know this. It is one of the reasons why we have not got the biggest consistency.

“Listen, we played Sunday and we play Thursday. That’s a good gap, enough time to recover: no problem. We then play Thursday, Thursday, so no problems again.

“We then have a final (on the Sunday). Before a final you don’t have to think about anything because you don’t need to be recovered. You could play the final on Friday!

"In the end I will make decisions and you will sit in your chair and criticise or not."

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