Jurgen Klopp believes that Liverpool’s Champions League group stage draw represents a ‘proper challenge’ as they head into battle against Ajax, Napoli and Rangers – although he believes that there are two positives despite being drawn in a group that could see them be tested to the max.
All three sides come with European prestige; Ajax are four times winners of the European Cup, Napoli have featured on the continent every single year since 2009-10 and Rangers have played in two UEFA Cup finals in the last 15 seasons.
Klopp knows it will be a tough test to progress despite being one of Europe’s best sides – if not the best – in the Champions League over the past five seasons.
But the German has highlighted two positives of the draw in Group A this time out, claiming that his team know the players of Napoli and Ajax well after coming up against them in recent years – alongside playing against former players when his side travel up to Ibrox in Rangers’ first group stage game since 2010.
“The first thing to say is this is a proper, proper challenge,” Klopp told the club’s official website.
“All of the clubs have quality, they all have pedigree and I would say they all have a chance. The good thing is that we do also, so it makes sense for us to look forward to the challenge and give it a try.
“We did not ask for any favours and we have not been given any but this is not a competition where you can look for easy ways through because the standard is always unbelievably high. The difference this year is that the group stage will be shorter than usual, so we will have to be ready not just for the quality of the opposition but also for the different demands and rhythms.”
“We will not have to look too hard to find information about our opponents, though. It was only a couple of years back that we played two really tough matches against Ajax and we get drawn against Napoli pretty regularly, so we know quite a bit about both of them and they know quite a bit about us. I know there will also be some new lessons to be learned, though. There always are.
“Rangers are a new opponent for us but we know them, too. Their story over the last few years has been really interesting and they did really, really well to qualify for the group stage, given the teams they were up against in the qualifying matches.
“We also know a couple of their players well. Ryan Kent has had a great development since moving to Scotland and Ben Davies is just starting out on his journey with Rangers, so it will be good to come up against them.
“The only certainty right now is that all of the six games will be incredibly competitive and really intense. I’m excited about it. It is a proper football group and, like I said, a proper challenge.”
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