Jurgen Klopp suggested that Liverpool have something of an advantage to exploit after learning of the club’s Champions League group opponents.
The Merseysiders join Ajax, Napoli and Rangers in Group A of the competition, having enjoyed prior meetings with both the Dutch and Italian outfits in the competition under the German tactician.
“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,” the German told the club’s official website.
“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.”
It’s worth emphasising that the former Borussia Dortmund boss did admit that this far from guarantees the club easy passage through to the knockout stages, highlighting the ‘unbelievably high’ standard of the tournament.
VOTE for Empire of the Kop as Best Club Content Creator (Premier League) here: Football Content Awards
OR on Twitter with the FCA’s one-click Twitter link with: I am voting for @Empireofthekop in @The_FCAs for #BestClubContentCreator (Premier League)
READ MORE: BREAKING: Liverpool find out Champions League group stage opponents
What will perhaps be of most interest to the 55-year-old coach will be the potential psychological uplift the Champions League draw may inspire amongst his squad.
Still yet to find a victory in the 2022/23 season, one might question how the players would react to news of a comparatively more challenging group (perhaps one akin to the so-called ‘group of death’ we made short work of last term en route to the final).
It’s a perhaps ridiculous question to ponder given the squad’s status as ‘mentality monsters’, though we’ve looked far from deserving that moniker following a couple of bland performances.
Still, prior knowledge an experience of an opponent can hardly hurt our chances of progressing past Group A, though there will be no room, as ever, for those unwilling to take the challenge seriously.