Virgil van Dijk has admitted that Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top-four are slim having endured a rough season in the Premier League.
Speaking to the Mirror, the Dutch centre-back revealed that qualifying for the UEFA Champions League is unlikely given that Liverpool’s destiny is currently out of their hands, though Van Dijk acknowledged that keeping up their winning streak could be just as important.
Heading into today’s game against top-four rivals Tottenham, Liverpool sit seven points off the allusive final Champions League spot currently held by Manchester United, with the Red Devils also having a game in hand over their Premier League rivals.
With six games to go, there’s every chance that Liverpool can pull off one of the most unlikely of charges to qualify for the Champions League, though according to Van Dijk, the defender is more than aware that the Reds can’t control their own destiny at this stage of the season.
Van Dijk said on Liverpool’s hopes of a top-four finish: “Obviously, being in the Champions League is important, but at this point it’s something that is out of our hands a little bit and everyone realises that. But the season is not over yet, there are still so many points to get and all we have to do is win the game ahead of us.”
Liverpool making top-four now would be nothing short of a miracle
Few would have expected Liverpool to be fighting for European football at this stage of the season, let alone be so far off the top-four given how dominant the Reds have been in both the Premier League and on the continent in recent years, and pulling off a top-four finish now would be nothing short of a miracle.
Whilst Liverpool have been in good form as of late, we have seen this season that the Reds do have a clanger in them, and no result is guaranteed from now until the end of the campaign despite the favourable run-in the fixture compute has blessed Jurgen Klopp’s side with.