Jurgen Klopp is expecting a very “intense” and “difficult” game against Spartak Moscow in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Klopp was speaking ahead of his team’s second Champions League match of the new campaign.
Asked what he was expecting in the game, Klopp said, “Intense, difficult, they’re a very strong side, a very experienced side.
“They’re a football playing side. Very experienced. We will be ready but we’ll need to be ready because it’s a difficult place to win.”
Klopp was then asked how his team would need to improve and Klopp said his team’s “defence”.
“It’s a teamwork thing. I talk about team performance when we defend and that’s what we need to do better.”
Klopp was also asked about Liverpool’s reported interest in Spartak’s 25-year-old Quincy Promes.
“A very good player, a very dangerous player, fast, their most dangerous player. He is a very good player. Here is not the place to talk about that though, he is a Spartak player.”
Liverpool take on Spartak Moscow in Russia on Tuesday night, in need of their first three points on the grand European stage.
They only managed a 2-2 draw against Sevilla at Anfield a fortnight ago, although Spartak and Maribor also drew, leaving all four teams in Group E on one point.
A win against Spartak away would be a great result for Klopp’s men, after a mixed start to the Premier League campaign.
They thrashed Arsenal 4-0, but then lost 5-0 to Manchester City, and Sunday’s narrow 3-2 win against Leicester was their first win in any competition in September.
The game kicks off at 7.45pm at the Otkrytiye Arena.
OPINION
Promes has been linked with Liverpool over the past couple of transfer windows, although the player himself has said that he has “never thought” about a switch to Anfield. The 25-year-old winger missed the last league game for Spartak Moscow and Liverpool would definitely face a much easier task if the Dutch player was missing from the game on Tuesday night. Promes would relish the chance to show Liverpool fans and Klopp what they’re missing. Klopp himself reiterated that he thinks Promes is a “very good” player but would obviously not get drawn any further on whether Liverpool were till interested or not. As he said, this wasn’t the time or the place.