Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says they're in the Europa League to win it.

The Reds open their campaign on Thursday against LASK Linz.

Van Dijk said, "We all wanted to be in the Champions League but we didn't deserve it. We deserved to be in the Europa League and we will give it everything we have to win it. We want to try and win the Europa League. We have to work at it and that starts tomorrow.

"We are working very hard each and every day. New players are coming in, young players coming through, everyone is getting used to that. I see a lot of potential and good things already, the results have been there. We take it game by game.

"We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Each game that we play in each competition is going to be tough, this is the same. It's an exciting time, there's a lot of young players with quality. If you look at the last game, the first half was not how we all wanted to perform.

"But the reaction we showed is a sign of good things that could happen this year. We are looking good but we are only in September."