Klopp admits Wijnaldum will leave Liverpool in summer despite top-four place

Jürgen Klopp said it was a massive achievement by Liverpool to come “from nowhere to the Champions League in five weeks” after his team sealed third place in the Premier League with victory over Crystal Palace in Roy Hodgson’s final game in charge.

Liverpool secured Champions League qualification with a fifth consecutive league win, their eighth in an unbeaten 10-game finish to the season, having been eighth in the table and 10 points behind Leicester following defeat by Fulham on 7 March. Klopp hailed the inexperienced central defensive duo of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as pivotal to the team’s recovery but admitted he did not see it coming only a few weeks ago.

“This is big,” the Liverpool manager said. “If someone had told me five or six weeks ago that we would finish the season in third, I would have said it was impossible. It was absolutely out of reach. But the good thing this year is how we responded when we didn’t feel good because too many things happened to us.

“The injuries followed us through the season. Even after a good 3-0 win at Burnley we go home and Rhys Williams needs a scan on his hamstring. He didn’t train for the last three days but were lucky he could play today.

“Today they [Williams and Phillips] both get cut and we had to fight through. How they played is absolutely incredible. The steps they made this year were on a different level. To fight through all this and finish third is the best lesson you could learn for life. From nowhere to the Champions League in five weeks is a massive achievement.”

Klopp confirmed Georginio Wijnaldum will leave Liverpool when his contract expires this summer, and the midfielder added: “I’m fighting against tears right now. The people in Liverpool have shown me love during the five years. I hope to have played many more years for the club but unfortunately things went different. I have to start a new adventure.”

The former England manager Hodgson admitted it felt “strange” to bring his top-flight coaching career to an end after 45 years. “It has been a whirlwind four or five days with so many fantastic moments,” he said.

“I’ve now got to come to terms with the fact my last game has been played and I’m pleased it was at Anfield, one of the temples of football.”