Nathaniel Clyne has insisted that he is desperate to taste Champions League football next season and he has urged Liverpool to claim the full three points against Manchester City on Sunday to boost their chances of a top four finish.
The Reds presently find themselves fourth in the Premier League table with 55 points from 28 games, just a point and a place adrift of their next opponents, who have a game in hand.
The race for the top four is heating up as the season enters its business end, with five teams battling it out for the remaining three places; Chelsea are seemingly out of reach of their chasing pack and are almost guaranteed Champions League football in the 2017/18 campaign as they are currently 10 points clear at the top of the table.
Besides Liverpool and Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United are in the running for a top four finish.
And Clyne, who has never played in the Champions League, underlined the importance of the Merseyside giants bagging the full three points at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday which would move them a step closer to a top four finish.
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"I watch all the Champions League games and seeing all the remarkable things that are happening – it’s an exciting tournament and I really want to play in that”, the defender told LFC TV.
"It’d be my first time if we do get there, so I’m raring to go and so is the team.
“If you look at the league table you can see there’s lots of teams fighting to finish in the top four, so every point is crucial.
"So we’ll go there and try to get maximum points. If we could get into the top four that would be a great achievement for us.
"Everyone wants to be playing in the Champions League and that’s what we’re hoping to do next season, and hopefully we could do a good job there."
Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 in the corresponding fixture at Anfield on New Year’s Eve.
