"Fire in our belly" - Jurgen Klopp and Kyle Walker agree on Man City and Liverpool exits from Europe
The Premier League title race took a fresh twist this week as Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal all exited Europe in disappointing fashion.
Jurgen Klopp vowed to 'throw everything' at the Premier League after watching his Liverpool side crash out of the Europa League to leave the title as his only shot at a farewell trophy.
Klopp already has the Carabao Cup this season after announcing that he will depart Anfield at the end of the campaign, but was hoping to sign off with four trophies with Liverpool looking strong at the start of 2024, especially after their Carabao Cup triumph. However, a manic FA Cup exit at Manchester United and now a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League quarter finals means that the Premier League is the only shot Klopp has left.
However, defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend saw Liverpool drop two points behind City in the title race, giving them an uphill battle as Arsenal also try to rescue their season. The Gunners are level with Liverpool after defeat of their own last time out, and a disappointing Champions League exit at Bayern Munich leaves the league as their only chance of a trophy this term.
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"Atalanta deserved to go through and that's fine and we can now focus on the league. That's exactly what we'll do from now," Klopp vowed in Italy.
“Let's put a line under this competition, we would've wished to go to Dublin [for the final]. That didn't happen, and now we have one competition left and we throw everything we have into that.”
Klopp's vow echoes City captain Kyle Walker's comments after City were knocked out of the Champions League on penalties by Real Madrid. With an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Saturday, Walker insists City can still 'do something special' this season.
"We are a collective – we win and lose together. We’ve got another important final on Saturday against Chelsea," Walker said. "It hurts and we’ve got to feel the pain. It’s a set-back. Hopefully that give us the motivation to go on and do something special at Wembley.
"We are professionals, and we have to do it [bounce back]. We owe it to the fans and the lads as a group of players because we’ve worked too hard to throw it away now. We’ve got a massive run-in for the Premier League, a really big game against Chelsea and we have to take this as motivation to go on and do something special. The best thing in football is you have a game to put it right next week and Saturday is a massive game. It’s a great opportunity to take this hurt and fire from our belly.”
If their European exits serves as a re-focus and motivation to give everything in the title race, City and Liverpool could be set for a huge final six games of the campaign. Mikel Arteta described his Arsenal side as 'gutted' following their Champions League exit - but this week's disappointment for the three contenders certainly adds a new dimension to the three-horse title race.