Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed a third-place finish in the Premier League as a "massive achievement" after an injury-ravaged defence of their league title. In front of the largest attendance at Anfield for 14 months, Sadio Mane scored twice as the Reds beat Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday to secure the riches of Champions League football for a fifth straight season. After ending a 30-year wait to win the title last season, Liverpool looked set to miss out on the top four when six successive home defeats for the first time in the club's history left Klopp's men languishing in eighth in March. Long-term injuries deprived the German of many of his key players with talismanic centre-back Virgil van Dijk sidelined since October, while captain Jordan Henderson has missed the last three months of the campaign.

"It's outstanding. This season from the outside you cannot understand," said Klopp. "We are Liverpool. You have to win, to become champions, whatever, but it is not always possible. "In the harder moments you can learn the most, show the most and we stuck together the whole time. "We were constantly sorting problems. It was so nice we could use the last six weeks to turn this season around."