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It’s back. That glorious and greedy monstrosity called the Champions League that we know and love is finally making a comeback, just two months after the 2019-20 trophy was lifted in Lisbon. Of course, it has been a slightly longer break for Liverpool supporters, as they came out in round 16 of last season’s tournament against Atlético Madrid in February.
The departure was an aberration for Liverpool in the Jürgen Klopp era, as the Reds reached the final in the previous three European races, winning the 2018-19 edition of the Champions League. While a first Premier League crown went a long way towards making up for the disappointing continental campaign, Klopp and his team will be eager to make amends.
It is set to be an entertaining group stage for the Red Men, with two matches each against Group D teams Ajax, Atalanta and FC Midtjylland brimming with potential for some high octane attacking matchups. Klopp, for his part, is ready to go and gave his assessment of his opponents for the next six games.
“Everybody knows how good Ajax was two years ago,” said the German coach after the draw. “And they will always build a suitable new squad and a suitable team. Midtjylland is for different reasons: [they are] one of the most interesting teams because they have a very specific shape.
“These are the little data that I have without knowing that we will face it, and Atalanta is obviously a really exciting project for a couple of years. They also play very well, so it seems to me that it is a suitable football group.
“All teams try to play real football, all teams run a lot so the games will be intense and we will only fly an hour and a half or two instead of four and a half or five, yes that’s good, but we would have played in Moscow or Greece too, there is no doubt about that ”.
Of course, the entire group stage will be played without fans, depriving Liverpool supporters of raucous Anfield nights and entertaining days away on the continent. Fortunately, the team that will be traveling will not have to go far, as the exhausting trips to the Far East were fortunately avoided.
“I didn’t really think about traveling to be honest, but yes, Italy, Holland and Denmark may not be the furthest away [away]Klopp continued.
“Okay, but we don’t think about the kilometers we do in the Champions League, we think about the games we play and I think it’s a very strong group.”
