Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is targeting a Champions League return for the club, citing Tottenham as an example to try and follow.

The club have not competed in Europe’s top club competition since the 2009-10 season after to failing to qualify through the Premier League for the past three seasons.

Rodgers has acknowledged the historical importance of European football and believes Wednesday’s top flight opponents, Andre Villas-Boas’ outfit, serve as a blueprint for how to regain their Champions League status in the future.

“Over the course of the summer they [Spurs] invested something in the region of £55 million [€68m) net in terms of everything they were putting into the group,” the Northern Irishman told reporters.

“But it is not just in the last window, Tottenham have been building the group steadily and have worked their way up the league to become challengers for those Champions League positions.

“We are trying to arrive in that position and we see what sometimes it takes in order to do that.

“Of course Liverpool want to be in for the top players and top talents and this is a club which will bring those players here.

“But obviously a lot of players want to be in the Champions League so if they want to come in here that is an area we want to get into in the coming years.

“We know we are not too far away and are very close to arriving in that zone that we want to be in.”