Jurgen Klopp has dismissed the idea that Liverpool were handed the 'best draw' available in being paired with FC Porto in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Friday's draw in Nyon, Switzerland pitted the Reds against the reigning Portuguese champions, with a place in the last four of Europe's premier cup competition at stake.
Sergio Conceicao's men were widely regarded as the weakest team of the eight still involved, but Klopp insists he doesn't see it that way.
“What can I say? It’s Porto and we’ve played there already and we know how good we had to be last year," he told the club's official website.
“The result in the end was a strange one; it was very good for us, of course, but it was a strange one. In the second leg, we saw the character of Porto and the quality they have.
“I could not be further away from thinking it’s the best draw because it isn’t – it is just the draw, it’s the opponent we have to prepare for and that’s all we will be thinking about from when we start preparing for the game.
“We have a specialist for Porto in our own team in Pep Lijnders being there in the past – and he always speaks with so much respect for that club. We will have plenty of information and that’s what you need before a game, but you still have to play it. Now we know it, let’s prepare.”
Liverpool and Porto met at the last-16 stage of last season's tournament, with Klopp's team emerging as 5-0 aggregate victors after scoring five times in the first leg away from home.
Asked if that result could provide extra motivation for the opposition ahead of rematch, the German said: “One-hundred per cent. Porto were not on my ‘wish list’, but now they are our opponent, it is how it is and we have to play them.
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“The first thing you have to do is make sure everybody respects the opponent the right way – and we will do that 100 per cent. We will know about the quality of Porto and then we have to play the game. Our supporters are brilliant at that, respecting the opponent.
“I am happy for them because it is a nice trip, a nice city, and the weather will be good then, which is always good for English people! There’s nothing else to say.”
