Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Liverpool will compete for the Premier League title - Jurgen Klopp

MUNICH -- Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool will be competing for the Premier League title this season and reiterated the club's stance that Philippe Coutinho is not for sale.

Liverpool achieved a top-four finish last term for only the second time in eight seasons and now face a two-legged playoff to reach the group stages of the Champions League.

Klopp's side were initially title contenders during the opening months of the 2016-17 campaign, but soon fell short when injuries and fixtures began to pile up.

"Yes, we will be playing for the championship," Klopp told a news conference to preview the Audi Cup, where Liverpool play Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

"We don't start a season by not having any ambitions. We have to have our goals and I think we have a very good team now. We did have a bit of bad luck last season. I think we can play a little bit better.

"Let's hope everything will work very well and that there isn't much more to improve. We have to work very hard on it and we're doing that.

"We're working very hard so it's important to see what we can achieve tomorrow against Bayern."

Coutinho, meanwhile, continues to be linked with Barcelona, who are facing the prospect of losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain this summer.

Earlier this month, Liverpool rejected a £72 million approach from Barcelona for Coutinho and told them that he would not be sold for any price.

The Reds boss was asked in his native German about Coutinho's future at Anfield and replied: "You formulated the question in a strange way.

"Where is your interpretation if you say he is not available to be sold? I don't understand that.

"The word 'not' means there is no interpretation for that. It's nothing new, is it?"

Liverpool have confirmed Joe Gomez (knee) and Divock Origi (hamstring) will sit out the preseason tournament after picking up slight knocks in Saturday's friendly with Hertha Berlin.

However, the club have said that Loris Karius, Dejan Lovren and James Milner are now all fit to feature on Tuesday at the Allianz Arena.

"We have a few who have knocks," Klopp said of his squad. "We still have a few little problems there.

"But so far, everything is looking good. It's quite a challenge to see with these players what we can do with them -- the players who have knocks. It's a little bit of puzzle. We will do our best."

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