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Jurgen Klopp is relishing the prospect of a thrilling finale to the season as he told his Liverpool players: “Succeed and you’ll be remembered for 500 years.”

The Reds go into Sunday’s last Premier League game of the campaign against Brighton at Anfield knowing that a point will guarantee them a top-four finish.

Then the focus will shift to the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev.

After a week when individual awards were dished out, Klopp is more interested in what Liverpool can achieve as a team.

“That’s what we are working for, that is what we want,” Klopp said.

“Champions League qualification, so we are in the competition next year, that was the target from the first day. If someone said to me before we started that on the last day of the season you will have it in your own hands, I would have said ‘okay, I will take that.’

“It would have been possible to have done it a bit earlier but for different reasons - one of the reasons is being in the Champions League itself. We have to play this game and that’s absolutely okay. It is a very positive situation.

“I cannot think at the moment about the Champions League final. I have to think about this game and winning this game and making sure we play Champions League next year and then we have two weeks to prepare for the other game. To be remembered in 500 years then we have to win the other game for sure.”

A year ago Liverpool needed to beat Middlesbrough on the final day to secure a Champions League spot and after a nervy start they cruised to a 3-0 victory.

Klopp’s side have come a long way since then and have shown they can handle the pressure when the stakes are high.

“Last season we needed to win and now it is slightly different,” Klopp said.

“I can remember how I felt after that game. I am not sure how many of these players were part of that game last season. What can we learn?

“We had so many tests to pass since that time and the boys really delivered in nearly all of them. That is what gives me a good feeling and we have to do it again. Brighton have their own ideas and their own targets and we have to be ready.”

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool have been camped inside the top four since December and they will only miss out if they lose to Brighton and Chelsea win at Newcastle. If Liverpool win on Sunday and Tottenham fail to beat Leicester City at Wembley then the Reds will claim third spot.

Considering the injury woes which have dogged them and the demands of a gruelling run in Europe, Klopp believes finishing ahead of the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal would be a major achievement.

“I think we deserve it but we have to make the last step,” he added.

“If we don’t do it and Chelsea get the spot then they deserve it. It is as simple as that. But over the whole season, what the boys did in the most difficult circumstances...

“Chelsea made five or six changes in midweek (against Huddersfield). That would not be possible for us, even if we thought about it.

“These boys have had to fight for each yard, the last six or seven weeks, pretty much the same group. That is the situation. I really think they deserve it but we have to make the final step ourselves because nobody will probably help us.”

Klopp turned Borussia Dortmund into Champions League regulars but he admits that repeating the trick with Liverpool would be on a different level considering the competition in the Premier League.

“Yeah, it would be,” he said.

“I would say without injuries we would already be there. Without the Champions League, we would already be there as we would have had less games.

“In the specific circumstances, it would be massive. That’s the truth.”