LUCAS LEIVA hailed Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of Swansea City as the perfect preparation for Thursday night’s crunch Europa League clash with Zenit St Petersburg.
The Reds ended a run of five games in all competitions without a win as they comprehensively outclassed a weakened Swans side.
Victory lifted Brendan Rodgers’ men up to seventh place in the Premier League after the disappointment of back to back defeats to West Brom and Zenit.
Liverpool’s focus will now turn to trying to overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit against the Russian champions and the Reds midfielder says yesterday’s performance proves they are capable of advancing to the last 16.
"We know we still have to improve a lot, but this victory will give us the confidence going into Thursday to try to get through against Zenit," Lucas said.
"We started this week thinking it could be a really good week for us but then we had the defeat to West Brom and then the loss in the Europa League.
"It was difficult but the important thing is that we have finished the week off in a positive way by scoring five goals and keeping a clean sheet.
"If we play like that against Zenit we’ll have a good chance. We are creating a lot of chances in matches, even in Russia we created a lot.
"If we do that again at Anfield and take them this time then we’ll be able to get through to the next stage.
"We will go into the Zenit game with a positive and offensive mentality but knowing that if we concede it’s going to be very hard. We have to defend well on Thursday because if we concede an away goal it will be very difficult for us."
