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Jurgen Klopp was sat with his backroom staff in the Piano Bar of the Hotel Principe Felipe on Wednesday evening enjoying a quiet drink.

On the big screen in front of the Liverpool manager there was a familiar foe as he watched Bayern Munich’s ruthless 5-1 demolition of Arsenal at the Allianz Arena.

Klopp loves those big Champions League nights. He enjoyed plenty of them with Borussia Dortmund en route to the 2013 final at Wembley when Bayern’s late winner dashed his hopes of glory.

Now he has his sights set on leading Liverpool back to Europe’s top table.

This time next year he wants to be standing on the touchline rather than staying in a Spanish holiday resort when the knockout stages get underway.

“Things that I don’t have, I don’t miss,” Klopp told the ECHO during an exclusive interview at the club’s La Manga training base.

“But of course I enjoyed being in that competition a lot and that’s where we want to be.

“To achieve that we need to qualify. We didn’t qualify this season. We are working to go there as soon as possible.

“We saw this week again what a strong competition the Europa League is too. Strong teams, intense games.

“We enjoyed it last season, well we did until the last match day! We had some wonderful games in that competition.

“But of course the Champions League is THE competition. We want to be part of it. To get there we have to win a few games.”

It’s been three years since Liverpool last rubbed shoulders with Europe’s elite – Brendan Rodgers’ side failing to get out of a group including Real Madrid, Basel and Ludogorets.

Klopp is determined to put that right but is under no illusions about the size of the challenge ahead.

With Chelsea clear at the top, Liverpool are locked in a five-way battle with Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United for the remaining three Champions League places.

Second placed City and sixth placed United are separated by just four points.

Having bounced back to form with a crucial 2-0 win over Spurs last weekend, Klopp knows the Reds have little room for error during the run-in.

“Absolutely, but that’s not a problem because it’s the same for all of us,” he said.

“We will see what happens. We just have to go for it.

“When there are 200 yards left of a long race, you cannot think about the finish, you can’t think: ‘What happens if I’m not on the podium?’

“You have to go for it. You have to get over that finish line and then look back to see who is behind you. That’s the situation we’re in.

“We are in the race. Nothing has been decided until now. Six good teams going for four places.

“I am sure that England has to be the most difficult league in order to qualify for the Champions League, 100%.

“It’s probably easier to go through to the next round from the group stage of the Champions League than it is to qualify in the first place in England.

“We know it. It’s all good. Everyone knows where we could be with a few more points and all that stuff, but even then nothing would be decided.

“Our position is absolutely okay. We have to use it.”

Liverpool’s campaign was derailed by a wretched start to 2017 as they took just three points out of a possible 15 and were knocked out of both cups.

But with key personnel back fit and firing, Klopp believes the victory over Spurs will prove to be a turning point.

“We had our problems already,” he added.

“That’s not to say we won’t have any problems any more but I think we have come closer together in this time.

“I’m not sure about how the club reacted in situations like this in the past but I thought the club reacted perfectly - by that I mean from the owners right through the club.

“We were all still together and convinced about the style, the plan, all that stuff. Results didn’t feel good but that kind of togetherness did feel really good.

“We learned a lot and it made us stronger, 100%. Now we have to play football and plan for the next season. It’s a long trip and we’re looking forward to it.”

Klopp spent Friday morning putting his players through their paces at La Manga’s football complex.

There is a practice match planned for Saturday with the Reds training again on Sunday before flying home to Merseyside.

Klopp knew exactly what he was getting when he picked La Manga for Liverpool’s training camp.

“I came here five years in a row with Dortmund,” he said.

“When you go on a camp it’s important that you know about the environment and I know this place pretty well.

“It’s the perfect place for a camp. That’s why there are always so many Scandinavian teams here and international youth teams too.

“The pitches are good, the hotel is good and they are used to having football teams here. We need good pitches, good balls, good players and we’ve got that.

“It was a late decision but when I heard that La Manga was possible I didn’t want to know about the other options.

“We looked into Scotland and Ireland but we needed to know that the weather would be okay to work outside so Spain was the best option.”

As well as the work on the field, Klopp has placed a strong emphasis on team building on this trip.

From forfeits for losing the six-a-side tournament to games of tennis and pulling names out of a hat to determine who would be sharing rooms.

The manager prides himself on Liverpool’s unity and spirit, which will need to come to the fore if they are going to kick on and land that top-four finish.

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“When you work hard you need to have some time to enjoy other things,” Klopp added.

“When we’re at home the players organise their own private life, but in a camp we have to do it. You have to use the time. We don’t have to drive anywhere. Here there is no private life, we are on duty all the time.

“It’s not the longest period in the world but it’s nice to have the time together and we really appreciate it.

“Not so nice is the fact that Dejan Lovren isn’t involved and we had to send Daniel Sturridge home due to illness – that’s not too cool.

“There are little knocks for one or two players but that’s not a problem. Being together is really important.

“Everything has been perfectly organised. We’ve had a few meetings and we’ll have a few more of them. I’m enjoying it and I think the players are too.

“The weather isn’t world class but it’s perfect to train. It’s not that often you get the chance to cycle to training. English teams don’t get the chance to do things like this very often.

“We would spend nine days here in the winter break when I was at Dortmund. We always enjoyed it and we always felt the benefit of it.

“This trip is only for four days but we’ve been able to achieve a lot.”