'The most important competition on the planet' - Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool are taking Europa League extremely seriously this season despite Premier League title-race commitments

Liverpool defeated Austrian team LASK 4-0 at Anfield to guarantee their place in the UEFA Europa League round of 16. With this victory, they qualified for the knockout stages and sealed the title of Group E victors. The game was a display of Liverpool's offensive capabilities, with goals from Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz within the first fifteen minutes followed by a second-half strike by Mohamed Salah. After the match, Klopp revealed his relief after having qualified for the knockouts with one game in hand as they now face a packed fixture list till the start of the year. Klopp also maintained that the club would not be treating the Europa League as a secondary objective this season.

Speaking in the press conference, Klopp said: "What do you mean how much of a priority? In comparison to other competitions or whatever? Unfortunately, my career is not like this where I can choose, to be honest. I have to take what I get. When we play the competition it's the most important competition on the planet. Easy as that. But now we play the Premier League on Sunday and so that is then the most important competition, definitely. We want to go as far as somehow possible [in the Europa League]."

Liverpool are favourites for the Europa League but having put themselves firmly in the Premier League title race, the demands on Klopp’s side are likely to be significant when the competition resumes. They are involved in a multi-club title fight with Manchester CIty, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Arsenal as Klopp's men sit third, two points behind leaders Arsenal but also only four points ahead of Manchester United in sixth.

Liverpool's last Europa League group-stage game will be played on December 14 against Union Saint-Gilloise and are expected to field a lighter squad for the clash as it is one of their eight matches in the next three days. They next play against Fulham at Anfield on Sunday, December 3.