Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva unravelled his appeasement with his side’s pre-season performances, and felt that they were in a good shape to launch a challenge for a top-four finish.
The Reds played four pre-season friendly matches in total, and also secured a safe passage to the next round of the Europa League, by winning both of their qualifier ties against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Gomel-c39117.
On Sunday, they beat the German outfit, Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 in their final friendly fixture prior to the start of their 2012/13 campaign, in a match which saw the Brazilian International bag his first scalp since November.
After getting a good share of representation during the entire pre-season, the 25-year old went on to express his satisfaction with his team’s preparations, and claimed that they were ready to make an impact next term.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 will open their campaign against West Bromwich Albion in an away match on the 18th of August.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lucas-c22528 told the reporters in an interview, “We still have a week to train but I think we had a positive pre-season… It is always important to play competitive games and we have had the chance to play two before the Premier League starts which I think will
give us good momentum and confidence.”
The Merseyside team suffered a dismal previous term, which saw them finish as low as eighth in final table standings. Consequently, they missed out on securing a place in Champions League football in their third successive attempt.
The midfielder revealed that he has set himself the target of helping his team regain entry into the coveted European competition. However, he was wary of the enormity of the task, and felt that with the rise of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the
task has now become more difficult than ever.
He added, “I think it will be very hard. You can see many clubs competing, like Manchester City and Tottenham. It is not like a few years ago when you only had maybe four teams competing. Now you have to approach every game well and improve every week.”
Lucas then went on to voice his support over Joe Allen’s recent acquisition from Swansea City, and believed it will further intensify the competition in the squad, for a place in the starting line-up.
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