Football
Mike Whalley 8y

Jurgen Klopp has restored Liverpool's confidence, says Dejan Lovren

LIVERPOOL -- Dejan Lovren says that Liverpool have regained their confidence under Jurgen Klopp as they chase Champions League qualification.

Lovren, 26, suffered a tough first season at Anfield after a £20 million move from Southampton in July 2014.

But he has grabbed his chance to re-establish himself in the Reds' Premier League lineup after Mamadou Sakho suffered medial knee ligament damage during the 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace on Nov. 8.

With fellow centre-back Martin Skrtel struggling because of illness, Lovren is likely to play alongside Kolo Toure on Thursday as Liverpool look to secure a place in the Europa League knockout stages against Bordeaux at Anfield.

The Reds have lost just once in eight matches since Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers as manager in October and have recorded impressive away wins over Chelsea and Manchester City.

Lovren said: "It's a great pleasure to play under Jurgen. We know what he achieved at Borussia Dortmund before.

"The most important thing we have is belief in ourselves, and we've started to see that in the last couple of games.

"I would say after the game against Chelsea we felt we had that confidence. Then we had a game against Crystal Palace, who are our black cat. We don't have a very good record against them.

"But we never doubted ourselves even after Crystal Palace. We had a good 10 days of preparation and we showed our quality against Manchester City.

"We showed we can beat the big teams and that we want to be in the top four at the end of the season."

Bordeaux are in the bottom half of Ligue 1 after an inconsistent first three months of the season, and will be eliminated from the Europa League if they lose at Anfield.

But Lovren said: "We need to approach every game the same. It will not be intensive like it was against Manchester City, but we respect everyone.

"We know it will be a tough game, but everything depends on us. We are professionals and we will do our job to the end. I think we are ready for that."

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