Jurgen Klopp is brimming with excitement rather than anxiety after Liverpool were handed a tough Champions League play-off draw against Hoffenheim.
Reds fans were no doubt hoping to face lesser-known Steaua Bucharest, Young Boys or Istanbul Basaksehir but instead they must navigate a testing tie against the Bundesliga outfit.
Klopp, though, insists he is “completely fine” with a “really exciting” draw and has pointed out that their German opponents will be far from pleased.
He told the official Liverpool website:
Actually, it was exactly what I expected when I had a look – if there’s a choice we always seem to take the German team! Sorry!
It was clear from the first moment when we knew who we could face that there would be no easy game. It’s Hoffenheim and that’s for sure not an easy game.
But we should always not forget what they thought in the moment they saw the draw – it’s not the best thing they could get.
I’m completely fine with it, happy to know and now we can start preparing. [They’re a] strong side, how everybody can imagine. When you are fourth in Germany you are a strong side.
Klopp, who knows Hoffenheim well from his time as Borussia Dortmund manager, says they will pose a unique challenge.
It’s a very interesting club. They have a lot of really good young players. They lost two of them – [Sebastian] Rudy and [Niklas] Sule to Bayern – and had a little change.
[They have] a very young manager, just 30-years-old, a very talented man.
That’s a real challenge but I’m looking forward to it. First we’ll play Watford but at the same time we’ll start preparing for Hoffenheim and it’s really exciting.
The Reds will travel to the Rhein-Neckar-Arena for the first leg on August 15th before the all-important second leg at Anfield eight days later.
