Caoimhin Kelleher believes the international break has come at just the right time for a Liverpool side reeling from a “tough week” at home and in Europe.
The Reds’ bid to add Champions League and League Cup honours to their likely Premier League success vanished over the course of five days.
A penalty shootout defeat to Paris St Germain last Tuesday night at Anfield was followed on Sunday by a 2-1 reversal against Newcastle in the League Cup final at Wembley.
Kelleher reckons Arne Slot’s men will be refreshed by the time they return to club action on April 2 - at home to Everton - thanks to a spell away from club action.
He said: “It's been a tough week for us but maybe the internationals come at a good time for us now to get away and just clear our heads and come back refreshed and ready to go in two weeks.
“Big things to play for when we get back, so we'll be ready to go.”
For the Corkman, it’s a two-legged UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation clash with Bulgaria.
And it could be his last time to play this season, before the summer international friendlies, with Alisson likely to keep the number one spot at Liverpool in their Premier League run-in.
He played on Sunday in his third League Cup final and suffered his first Wembley defeat.
“It's very disappointing. It's a tough one to take for all the lads,” he said. “To be fair to Newcastle, I thought they deserved it, so fair play to them. We're bitterly disappointed.
“It's tough to take, obviously. I think we know ourselves we could perform better than that, which is probably that bit extra hard to take.
“To be fair to the lads, they gave everything, ran as hard as we could, but we just came up a bit short.”
Federico Chiesa gave the Reds late hope when he pulled a goal back in the 94th minute, but Liverpool could not conjure up another.
Kelleher added: “We'll believe right until the very end and it was a good goal to get us back into it and then anything can happen. But unfortunately we couldn't get a second.
“To be fair to them, they closed out the game well. It's obviously difficult when the ball is in the corner to take it out and then create a chance from there. To be fair to them, they closed it out well.”
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