DIRK KUYT believes Liverpool have a great chance of winning the Europa League for the first time in their history this season.
The Dutchman savoured his appearance as substitute tonight against Utrecht, the team with whom he began his professional career.
Although Kuyt saw less than 20 minutes of action, he welcomed the warm reception from supporters of his old team – and looked ahead to a potential glory run in Europe with his current side.
Unbeaten Liverpool finished top of Group K after two wins and four draws, and Kuyt said he hopes this will be a season when the Reds can bring silverware to Anfield.
He said: “We have a couple of targets and obviously we like to win trophies.
“I think we have a very good chance to win this trophy.
“It’s good to be top of the group, and we’ll wait and see who our next opponent is.”
While Liverpool await that news from Friday’s draw, Utrecht’s European campaign is over.
Kuyt, though, was delighted to hear the travelling contingent from Holland cheering him as he appeared off the bench in the 73rd minute.
“That’s great,” he said. “The supporters from Utrecht were unbelievable, just like the Liverpool supporters.
“After seven years, to play against them and get a crowd like this it’s unbelievable and showed a lot of respect, and I’m very thankful for that.”
Kuyt stressed he understood manager Roy Hodgson’s decision to start the match with him on the bench.
“We play a lot of important games this month so he has to make his choices,” he said. “Obviously (the Premier League match against Fulham on) Saturday is another very important game for us so he decided to rest me.”
