Liverpool midfielder Gini Wijnaldum says The Reds are hoping to make history at next month’s Club World Cup tournament in Qatar.
The Dutch international Ballon d’Or contender was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com when he discussed the squad’s hopes for success at the Club World Cup.
“I’m really looking forward to playing in the World Cup for teams because back in the day I saw the Champions League winners play in the competition. What I like the most is that if you win, you get a badge on your shirt. That’s something you want to achieve.”
Wijnaldum was asked about the importance of keeping the team’s confidence up and maintaining that winning mentality in Qatar.
“It’s really important because it gives you a lot of confidence. When you are losing games, pressure will come on the team; when you win games, instead of pressure, confidence will come. It’s always important to win games, or even play good games because that will help you get more confidence.”
In the interview, Wijnaldum also spoke about how rare it is for Liverpool to play in the Club World Cup with the team’s last appearance in the competitions all the way back in 2005.
“First of all, it’s really difficult to qualify for a tournament like this. Second of all, you play against other teams who also had to do a lot of work to come into this competition. That’s why we have to enjoy it the most – because you never know if it’s going to be your last time in a competition like this.”
“You go into football to make history and that’s what we want to achieve with the team we’re playing in. We have a good team. We are friends, we work hard for each other. We have a team that when we look back later we can say we achieved things. This will definitely be one of the moments when we look back, we can say we achieved something big.”
Liverpool travel to Qatar to play in the Club World Cup in mid-December.
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