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Liverpool are feeling confident following their 5-1 aggregate victory over Manchester City in the Champions League quarter finals, full of belief that no matter who they meet next, they belong amongst the contenders.
They know, though, that being able to beat any side they face—both in Europe where they’re in the semi finals and domestically where they’re favourites to lock down a top four position—on its own doesn’t count for much.
“We have a lot of confidence now, especially with how we finished this game coming from 1-0 behind,” Wijnaldum told the club’s official website. “It gives us a lot of confidence when you play against a team like Manchester City.
“Every game is different and there’s no guarantee that we are going to win the next game or it’s going to be easy for us, but we still have to work hard and do the things that we are good at to make it easier to win games.”
For all the good Liverpool have done this season and all the quality they’ve shown in the league and Champions League, they haven’t achieved their goals yet, and how they approach their final few games now is key.
Along with the Champions League semi finals there are five league games to worry about, and though the Reds are heavy favourites for the top four, they still need to do the hard work of winning a few more times to make it certain.
That means buckling down and treating Bournemouth on the weekend in the league with the same seriousness they did City over two legs in Europe—and, in the league and Europe, it means avoiding let-offs like the first half on Tuesday.
“We didn’t play well in the first half,” he added. “We only hit the ball long to the front players so we made it more difficult for ourselves. You saw in the second half we tried to play football and when we did we created chances.
“You still have to score them and I think with the three up front we have players who can score goals when they have the chance.”