Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has claimed that the club can qualify for the Champions League under new manager Brendan Rodgers.

The Reds finished eighth in the Premier League under Kenny Dalglish last season but Gerrard insists that the team are good enough to improve on that finish in this campaign.

The England skipper said: "I'm realistic after last season, I don't want to make excuses for that. I don't think it's ever happened for a team to have gone from eighth to first.

"But there's still other big targets for us to achieve – like getting in that top four again, that's certainly the priority.

"I honestly think we will get in the top four. I am not being unrealistic, because if we play like we did in a lot of games last season, but be clinical and take our chances, we will be higher up the table."

Liverpool lost 2-1 to Roma in a pre-season friendly in the early hours of Thursday morning in Boston.