LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool's upcoming European tie with Manchester City is not a distraction ahead of the weekend's trip to Crystal Palace as he claims both fixtures have Champions League implications.
Liverpool face relegation-threatened Palace on Saturday afternoon before the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal with Pep Guardiola's side at Anfield on Wednesday night.
But with Liverpool looking to secure a top-four finish in order to play in Europe's premier club competition again next season, Klopp relayed the importance of his side's next fixture at a news conference on Friday.
When asked which fixture had greater significance for the season, Klopp abruptly replied: "Crystal Palace this weekend.
"[City] will be very important then, but not at the moment. No balance. We play Crystal Palace with all we have, with all intensity, with all concentration.
"For a player or manager of Liverpool, everything is at least about qualification for the Champions League.
"Both games are about qualification for the Champions League -- one is for next and one is for this year. That's the only difference. They have the same importance, [so] no difference for us."
Liverpool will welcome Nathaniel Clyne back to the first-team squad for the first time since preseason after the full-back fully recovered from a long-term back injury.
However, Emre Can (back) and Joe Gomez (ankle) are both ruled out for the Palace game, with Klopp stating Gomez is expected to miss up to a month with his injury.
"First of all, the good news about Joe is that it could have been everything," Klopp said. "In the end, from all the bad news we got, we got the best.
"It's serious enough to leave him out for a couple of games, but not until the rest of the season.
"It's always difficult to give a time schedule for that, but we hope that he's back in training around three or four weeks. That would give us the option to use him and him the option to play.
"Clyney is fit now. He played, during the international break, for the U23s. He's in good shape, so he will be part of the squad for tomorrow at least. That's good for us.
"You can never have enough players. It's not all easy for the players when they come back from an injury."
Can, meanwhile, is still yet to make a decision on his future at Liverpool, with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
The Germany midfielder recently rubbished a report claiming that he was seeking more than £200,000 a week to pen a new deal at Anfield.
"Yeah, it was £250,000!" Klopp joked. "Well, the situation at the moment is open. That's what he said before.
"Nothing is decided. It's open. We are in talks with him and all good so far -- apart from that he [hasn't] signed a contract for us. That's all OK, no problem with that."