We know what’s at stake against Augsburg

The Reds will welcome the Bundesliga outfit to Merseyside aiming to book a place in the last 16 of the tournament after playing out a goalless draw in the first leg in Germany last week.

The fixture comes just three days before Jürgen Klopp and his men will contest the Capital One Cup showpiece with Manchester City on Sunday; however, Lucas is adamant Liverpool won’t be entertaining any thoughts about the final ​until after the ​last ​whistle has gone​ at Anfield​.

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The midfielder told Liverpoolfc.com: “That is how football life is – every three or four days you have a very big game. Of course, on Sunday it is a big final, but this is another final for us on Thursday.

“For myself, if I’ve got a chance to play it’ll be another chance to show we want to be in the team for the final. This is an opportunity for us.

“But it’s an also an opportunity to go to the next round in a tournament we want to go as far as possible in. It’s a European tournament and they should always be taken really seriously.”

Liverpool’s initial meeting with Augsburg ended all square at the WWK Arena last Thursday, with Klopp admitting afterwards his team were not at their best.

Lucas continued: “Of course, in my opinion, we didn’t have the best game over there and I think we’d all agree with that, but it was a result that means it is in our hands. If we win the game at home, then we will go into the next round.

“Always when you don’t concede away from home, it’s good.  If you look after two legs, it’s not a bad result – we wanted to do a lot better, but it’s in our hands in front of our fans. We have to approach it with confidence and hopefully get through to the next round because we want to challenge for this tournament.”

Augsburg will journey to Anfield knowing that scoring an away goal could give them an advantage in the tie; should they net, it’ll mean a draw at full-time would see Liverpool eliminated from the competition.

While Lucas acknowledges it’s something the Reds do need to consider, he believes it’s something they cannot become too concerned about.

He said: “We didn’t score an away goal there, so they’ll know if they score one then we’ll need to score two. But, at the end of the day, if we win the game then we’re though.

“Of course, we’ll need to be careful but I don’t think we should pay too much attention to that. It is a positive factor for them if they score, but if we win the game then we’re through so we just have to approach it like a final – because it is a final – and then with our quality, we should be able to get to the next round.”

ARIS