adminLIVERPOOL. — Midfielder Philippe Coutinho believes securing FA Cup silverware would save Liverpool’s season, with hopes of a top four finish looking increasingly unlikely.The Reds go into their FA Cup quarter-final replay at Blackburn tonight off the back of damaging league losses at home to Manchester United in March followed by a 4-1 thumping at the hands of Arsenal on Saturday.
Defeat at the Emirates means fifth-placed Liverpool trail fourth spot, currently occupied by Manchester City, by seven points with seven games remaining.
After the match, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers conceded defeat in his quest for the top four.
‘‘It makes it difficult, there’s no doubt about that. Most players want to be in the Champions League,’’ he said.
‘‘They want to play at the top level of the game and if you’re not in the Champions League it makes it difficult for you. We know that.
‘‘It’s going to be a little like this until we become more stable. We’ve got young players who are growing, getting more experience and then hopefully there will be a period where we qualify again.
‘‘We want to be in the Champions League. That’s important and it is key for us. It’s highly unlikely this year. But Liverpool is a great club. I said that before I came into it.
“It’s a phenomenal club that players want to play for.’’
And while Coutinho refuses to give up hope of qualifying for Europe’s elite club competition for a second consecutive season, he does admit that ending the campaign with silverware would be some consolation if that was the case.
‘‘Winning the (FA) Cup would save our season. It is very important for us to have that as an objective,” Coutinho told the club’s official website.
“We have to pick ourselves up after what happened against Arsenal to get the results that we need. We want to be in the Champions League. That is our primary objective. We have seven games left and we have to see what happens.
“Arsenal played very well, as they always do, and we did not do the things we have to do to win, the things we have done in previous games, like pressing the ball well.
“That was the difference between the two sides. It was a very difficult game but we have to pick our heads up and keep believing. We have to keep going. We have more games to come and lots of things can still happen.”
He rejected the most recent offer of £100,000 a week and has attracted interest from Liverpool’s Premier League rivals Manchester City and Chelsea.
But Zidane has revealed that the European Champions are also after Sterling, pointing to recent Real captures like Gareth Bale and Raphael Varane as proof of their commitment to snapping up the continent’s premier young talent.
“We know who Raheem Sterling is, and of course we are monitoring him as a player,” Zidane said.
“There are very few players in the world who can improve the Real Madrid squad, so it is going to make sense we monitor the progress of the best young players in the world.
“We monitored Bale for over a year, the same with Isco and also Varane. We monitor many of the best young players in Europe, then if we feel they have something to offer Real Madrid we will contact their club and try and make the next step.” — Mailonline.
Online Reporter