Lucas Leiva urges Liverpool to keep focused on Europa before League Cup final

Lucas Leiva has claimed that Liverpool must not let Sunday's Capital One Cup final distract them from this week's Europa League last-32 tie against Augsburg.

It is all to play for at Anfield on Thursday as the first leg in Germany ended in a goalless draw.

Three days after Jurgen Klopp's men take on Augsburg, they will travel to Wembley to fight Manchester City for the first piece of silverware of the season.

"That's how football life is - every three or four days, you have a very big game," The Mirror quotes Lucas as saying. "Of course, on Sunday it's a big final, but this is another final for us on Thursday.

"For myself, if I've got a chance to play, it'll be another chance to show we want to be in the team for the final. This is an opportunity for us, but it's also an opportunity to go to the next round in a tournament we want to go as far as possible in. It's a European tournament and they should always be taken really seriously."

The Reds would have had seven days to prepare when they face Augsburg as they were not in FA Cup action at the weekend.