Top spot not crucial for Liverpool – Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is unfazed by whether his side top their Europa League group, pleased to have progressed on Thursday.

The Premier League side secured progression from Group B with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Bordeaux at Anfield.

Top spot will be up for grabs when Liverpool visit Switzerland to take on Sion on matchday six, but Klopp said it mattered little.

“I’m very happy we qualified,” he told a news conference.

“As I told you when I came here, when I watched football from the German side, I thought the Europa League for English clubs is maybe not the most fun tournament.

“When I came here, everyone gave me the feeling, ‘You take your best squad to [Rubin] Kazan, why do you do that?’

“So I’m very happy to be qualified, the team is very happy to be qualified, the club is very happy to be qualified, so you can be happy to be qualified if you want.

“Top of the table is important, but not the most important thing, because there are all good teams in the next round.

“We’ll try our best when we go to Sion. It’s in two weeks? There are 50 games in between. We have to think about Swansea from tomorrow on and that’s what we’ll do.”

Liverpool fell behind to a Henri Saivet goal before a James Milner penalty and Christian Benteke strike had them ahead before half-time.

Klopp was pleased with the way his team managed to grind out a win.

“The first half was OK, the start of the second half was OK. It was more and more difficult, which is normal with this result,” the German said.

“It was a big fight, so we’re very satisfied, because easy games anyone can win. You have to win the tough games and this was a tough game. A good night.”