Kuyt: League comes first

Dirk Kuyt has assured Jose Mourinho that Liverpool will not have the Champions League on their minds when they face Manchester United on Saturday.

With Liverpool’s Anfield clash with the league leaders kicking off at lunch-time, Chelsea could be 12 points behind by the time they face Portsmouth later in the day.

Mourinho has implied that Liverpool, who are out of the championship race, will have their focus on their Champions League tie against Barcelona on Tuesday, where they will aim to preserve their 2-1 lead from the first leg and reach the quarter-finals.

But Kuyt insisted: “Facing Manchester United is one of the most important games you can play in a season, so no-one can be thinking about Barcelona until after this match.

“It would be a great result if we could do it, you just need the same approach to the game as we have had in the last week.”

Liverpool won in the Nou Camp and then outclassed Sheffield United 4-0 despite manager Rafael Benitez making seven changes to the side.

Mourinho will watch the outcome of the game at Anfield with interest ahead of his own side’s game at Fratton Park.

With Manchester United beating Fulham last weekend while Chelsea were otherwise engaged at the Millennium Stadium beating Arsenal in the Carling Cup Final, the gap at the top opened to nine points.

Chelsea still have a home game with Manchester City in hand and Mourinho believes that the gap at the top is, in effect, only six points.

But the former Porto coach is still looking for a favour from Liverpool to give his side increased hope of completing a title hat-trick.

Mourinho said: “We have to keep winning and see whether the next step (at Anfield) is to close the gap, or for it to widen.

“If the next step sees the gap open, it gets very difficult for us. But if the next step is for it to close, everything is open for us.”

Kuyt is convinced that Liverpool will be fully focused against United.

He added: “We have beaten Barcelona, we have beaten Chelsea at Anfield, so now we can have the confidence to progress and beat Manchester United.

“If we can beat Barcelona, we can beat a lot of teams. We came back from Barcelona and beat Sheffield United and now we want to beat Manchester United.”