Jurgen Klopp has responded to the Champions League group draw made earlier tonight.
The reds avoided some of the big European giants but will face Spartak Moscow, European specialists Sevilla and their first meeting with Slovenian champions Maribor.
Speaking to LFC he said:
The draw was exciting – to be part of it is obviously really special. We watched with a few of the lads together. There are groups with Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus and Real Madrid, and not to get them is of course more good than bad.
[Sevilla] we all know how good they are in European competition. Moscow is a long trip. And Maribor, in this moment you don’t know a lot about them; a lot of people would underestimate them, we will not.
Klopp made reference to the fact that the Russian league is in full flow - with Spartak having played 7 competitive games already although he admitted he didn't know if the Slovenian league had started yet! (It has Jurgen, and Maribor are joint top and undefeated!)
The Liverpool boss also suggested that Anfield needed to be fully utilised in the campaign
For sure, we need to make sure that Anfield is a really difficult hill to climb for other teams. But that doesn’t mean that we go to other stadiums and think a point will be enough. I don’t think it makes sense to think like this.
Klopp will be hoping his squad returns unscathed after the international break
We will first of all prepare the team for the Arsenal game. Then all the players are around the world and hopefully they can come back healthy, that’s the main thing. Then, in the moment when we know who we will play first, we will go for it.
Liverpool kick off the campaign at home to Sevilla on the 13th September.
Klopp is gonna be a kop legend