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Liverpool Must Plan for Summer Signings Now, Says Klopp

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
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Liverpool Must Plan for Summer Signings Now, Says Klopp

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)

Liverpool have to start working on their player recruitment plans for the summer transfer window regardless of their Champions League status next season, manager Juergen Klopp said, highlighting the spending power of other Premier League clubs.

Liverpool lost 5-2 to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash and they are eighth in the league, seven points adrift of the fourth spot which secures Champions League qualification, albeit with two games in hand.

"I'm sorry that I cannot guarantee Champions League at this moment but we fight for it and it is not done yet," Klopp told reporters.

"But it is tricky and it will be a late decision. We have to start work earlier before we know where we will end up position-wise and European competition-wise. These things are clear."

Liverpool are six-times Champions League winners, last lifting the trophy in 2018-19.

"I think we played five years in a row in the Champions League, which is massive money, and went to the final three times in that time, which is also massive from a money point of view," added Klopp, whose team play at Crystal Palace later on Saturday.

"We built a stand, we built a training ground, and the club is in a really good place, but around us obviously a few people (clubs) are speeding up a little bit and you cannot ignore that. We cannot ignore these kind of things."

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Sabalenka in No Mood to Relax after Zheng’s Early Exit

This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
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Sabalenka in No Mood to Relax after Zheng’s Early Exit

This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)

Aryna Sabalenka said early exits by big names at the Australian Open would not make her title defense any easier after the top seed saw one of her main title rivals go out in the second round with Zheng Qinwen's defeat by world number 97 Laura Siegemund.

Sabalenka sealed a battling 6-3 7-5 victory over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Wednesday shortly before fifth seed Zheng, who lost to the Belarusian in last year's final, crashed out 7-6(3) 6-3.

Zheng's exit leaves Sabalenka with one less seed to worry about but the three-times Grand Slam champion said it made little difference in such a competitive field.

"Listen, it's a slam, you know? Not everyone can handle these emotions," Sabalenka told reporters.

"As you can see, there are so many players who are playing really well in these conditions. It's not like if they're gone, it's easy for me. No, it's not.

"I have to go there, I have to compete, I have to fight. Today's match proved that. Girls can go there and just play without any fear, without anything to lose.

"They can put you in really uncomfortable positions."

Sabalenka was feeling the pressure in her own match and trailed 5-2 at one point in the second set against Bouzas Maneiro, who stunned Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round at the All England Club last year.

"I definitely didn't want a third set. Who wants it? But at that moment I didn't really want to get bothered by that and let go of the set," said Sabalenka, who is bidding to become the first woman to win three successive titles at Melbourne Park since Martina Hingis from 1997-99.

"I told myself, 'OK, let's go play a third' and I somehow mentally prepared myself for that, tried to find my serve to not to give her too many chances.

"Then somehow it seemed to me that she got tense when it got to 5-3 and I felt there was an opportunity. I'm very glad that I managed to finish in two sets.

"I didn't really want to get too physically exhausted in the second round."

Up next for Sabalenka is Dane Clara Tauson, who won the Auckland title in the build-up to the Australian Open after Naomi Osaka retired injured.