Andy Robertson has revealed how Liverpool's Champions League Final failure last season has been the driving force behind this term's continued push for success.

The Reds went back to the top of the Premier League table on Friday night courtesy of a 5-0 drubbing of an already-relegated Huddersfield Town in what was a perfect warm-up for their trip to Barcelona next week.

Jurgen Klopp's side visit Barca for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday evening looking to snare a favourable result against the celebrated La Liga champions.

It was 11 months ago when the Reds were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Kiev as Zinedine Zidane's Los Blancos bested a Reds team who were without 44-goal Mohamed Salah from the half-hour mark onwards.

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Loris Karius' horror show in the NSC Olimpiyskiy last year condemned the Reds to a runners-up medal, and the entire squad have used that crushing disappointment as motivation this time around.

Robertson said: "We have kind of used (last season's final defeat) as motivation for our whole season.

"A lot of teams would have crumbled and maybe had another disappointing season because of what happened, but we have used it as motivation and we have done well this season.

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"What happens is yet to be to seen but we've had a fantastic season and it's about one final push now.

Liverpool's Champions League earnings 2017/18

"We played against a very experienced team that were looking to win the competition three years in a row and when they went ahead in the game, their experience told and we couldn't quite get near it.

"Of course we made mistakes on the night, but we learned from them. We moved on and Barcelona is going to be a hell of a task, but if we do get to the final, we'll be more experienced than we were last year.

"I think if the Champions League is an alternative source for success then we're doing fine because it's one of the biggest if not the biggest to win, so the best teams in the world play in it and we go to try and win it. But four teams are aiming to do that."

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It's been over 12 years since the Reds last visited Camp Nou in a game that saw them emerge a 2-1 winners on the night.

Goals from Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise cancelled out Deco's early opener as a 19-year-old Lionel Messi was shackled expertly by Alvaro Arebloa.

Liverpool will once again come up against the five-time Ballon d'Or winner on Wednesday night and Robertson is under no illusions about the ability of arguably the finest player of his generation - a footballer many champion as the best in history.

"Messi can hurt teams, yes, and that's why he's the best player in the world," he added.

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"Manchester United obviously saw that (in the quarter-final), especially at the Nou Camp, he was frightening and that's what we're up against.

"It's up to us to try and stop him and stop the other attackers, as well as cause them a threat.

"It's a tough task, but we believe in our ability and let's see what happens. It's going to be a huge test, they are one of the best teams in the world and they will be high on confidence, but so are we and we know we are a tough team to beat, especially in Europe.

"We have gone far in both seasons and we hope to go a step further this season. We just hope we can get a good result."

Left-back Robertson admits he was an admirer of Barcelona's football growing up in Scotland, but the energetic defender is no mood to be over-awed by the size of the task in front of him when the Reds step out in front of nearly 100,000 supporters on Wednesday evening.

"I think everyone can be an admirer of Barcelona," he said. "I am not one of these people that supports every team under the sun, Celtic are my team and that was it, but you watch Barcelona over the years with the players they had and still have, they have a fantastic squad, so we know what we're up against.

"We have a fantastic squad as well though and we have confidence in our ability. I've been on a family visit for a holiday when I was about six or seven, but other than that, I've never been for a game.

"So it'll be a great experience for us all. It's an iconic stadium and it'll be good to play in, but it's all about the match and we're just focused on the game. We'll look forward to it.

"We were never going to throw games but every competition we're in, we want to win. The two domestic cups were disappointing.

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"We got a tough draw at Chelsea which could have gone either way and then Wolves was disappointing, so in the domestic cups we haven't been good, but we've been good in Europe and we're the only team that were in the semi-finals last year that are in it now.

"That is very hard to do. Look, we try to win everything."