Owen Hargreaves has dismissed suggestions that Liverpool will prioritise the Premier League over the Champions League, claiming that the Reds will only be focussed on winning as much as possible.
Jurgen Klopp’s side currently sit one point behind Manchester City in the league and face Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday night, knowing that a score draw will take them through the last eight.
Speaking on BT Sport, Hargreaves was quick to rubbish claims that the Reds have to choose on competition or the other.
He said: “It’s a complete myth to think that you prioritise the Premier League over the Champions League.
“You think about Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, all those team that have been playing every Wednesday every Saturday, winning the league, winning the Champions League.
“I think it’s an honour, it’s a privilege to be playing on this stage. You want to be playing with the best teams in Europe. Right now, Liverpool are one of those teams.
“Try and win everything you can.”
Should Liverpool prioritise the Premier League over the Champions League? https://t.co/nHNzswMIRL
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 13, 2019
OPINION
Hargreaves is absolutely right on this one. There’s no way that Liverpool are looking at tonight’s game and thinking about potentially losing it to focus on the Premier League. Given the choice, they probably would want to win the domestic title over the European one, but does that mean that they will consciously slack off in the hopes that they get knocked out and have more energy for their league run in? Definitely not, and to even suggest as much is ridiculous. More than anything, these are professional footballers, with superhuman levels of stamina and unimaginable levels of competitiveness. They are ready and willing to play two games a week if the reward at the end of the road is a trophy or two. Things might not work out the way that they are hoping they do tonight, and they might still miss out in the league, but one thing is for sure, it will not be for a lack of trying.
