Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool reaching the Champions League last-16 gives the club a ‘big lift’

Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool’s Champions League win over Ajax will give the club a major boost after a shaky start to the season.

The Reds left a neat impression in the Johan Cruijff Arena and were victorious 3-0 thanks to goals from either side of halftime from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez and a fine effort from Harvey Elliott.

The win sees Liverpool reach the last sixteen of Europe’s premier club competition with one game remaining.

There had been some concern about Liverpool’s stuttering start to the season, leaving them eighth in the league table and 12 points off the top after a shocking defeat at the bottom of Nottingham Forest.

But Klopp now believes the impressive way the Reds won in Amsterdam will give the club a huge boost to try and get their campaign back on track.

“You don’t have to talk about it all the time, but obviously we’re through to the knockout stage, so I’ll never take that for granted, so it’s a really big one,” he told BT Sport.

Liverpool controlled much of the game and secured a spot in the Champions League last-16

And yes, also very useful for the club, important for everyone, it is important and of course it gives a boost, but for tonight 100 percent. We are all feeling well and now we have a few days to prepare for Leeds.’

Klopp admitted that his match got off to a shaky start against Ajax, but that after tactical adjustments they quickly settled on Wednesday evening.

“No one should take qualifying for the knockout stage for granted,” Klopp said.

“We did it again in a game that started very difficult and that sweetens the victory. Ajax is a very good team and we have beaten them twice. They were the better team in the first 35 minutes.

Liverpool can now turn their full attention to the Premier League for the rest of the year

‘We changed and printed differently and we had to get used to that; At halftime we had a lot of good moments to show and then we scored the two goals and controlled the game and now we are very happy to have made it to the last 16.”

Liverpool are waiting five games between now and the start of the World Cup in November, when the season takes a break, starting with the home game against Leeds on Saturday.

They then host Napoli in what is essentially a dead rubber last group stage match in Europe, while matches at Tottenham and a home game with Southampton are split by a League Cup game with Derby County.