Dietmar Hamann: 'Liverpool must aim higher'

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has claimed that the club must aim higher than just wanting to finish in the top four this season.

The Reds have endured a disappointing start to the new Premier League campaign, while their Champions League hopes remain in the balance ahead of tonight's trip to Real Madrid.

While insisting that they did well to finish as runners-up in the league last term, Hamann believes that Brendan Rodgers's side needs to start focusing on bringing more silverware to Anfield.

"Everybody said last year they'd done so great - which they had - but at the end of the day there's been one trophy in the last eight or nine years - one League Cup - and we've got to be careful that people don't get used to saying finishing third and getting into the Champions League is great," the German is quoted as saying in the London Evening Standard.

Hamann won nine major honours during a seven-year spell with Liverpool from 1999 to 2006.