Former Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen has back the Reds to win the Champions League this season. 

The Reds lead AS Roma 5-2 in the Champions League semi-final after last week’s first leg, and will travel to Italy to hopefully finish the job in a few days time.

Should Jurgen Klopp’s men proceed to the competition’s summit, it would be the third major final the German has guided Liverpool to in the past three seasons – having taken them to the Europa League and League Cup final’s two years ago.

And Allen, who was part of that squad that missed out on both honours, has backed his former employers to go one better this time around and pick up their first piece of silverware under Jurgen Klopp.

“The reaction since then has been brilliant,” said Allen, reflecting on the pair of disappointments in 2016. “I know a few of the lads here and I hope for their sakes they can get some silverware over the next few years.

“I think the performances that season – Villarreal, the Dortmund game – give you confidence and belief, that never-say-die attitude. That’s probably part of their success.

“Did it feel then that Klopp was building something special? I think so. A new manager had come in and was implementing his style. We were a reasonably young squad then, which has a bit more experience now, with a couple of quality players added to it.

“We’ve seen [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah come in and they’re now a great team. What’s great is the attacking brand [of football] and they always look like they can blow any team away at times.”