Press conferenceJürgen Klopp on LASK, Europa League intentions and growing team spirit

Shortly after touching down in Austria with his squad, the Reds boss took questions from the media during a briefing at Raiffeisen Arena.

It will be there that his team return on Thursday evening for matchday one of Group E, with Austrian Bundesliga outfit LASK their opponents.

Read a summary of Klopp’s preview of the game below…

On LASK as an opponent…

I know Austrian football, I knew it since a long time ago but I was never in Linz. I know we are favourites and you like to play the game of the big club and small club but we are really here to play football. We take this game seriously and we want to make the most of it. I think the stadium is wonderful, they opened it in February. We are not arrogant, we want to compete and win here. LASK are very stable, they have a clear idea of football. They use the wings very well, good free-kicks – so it’s not easy and if you let them play they will use the opportunity. I was in this role also when you can’t lose, so we have to be prepared.

On whether there could be parallels with his first season at the club when Liverpool were competing in the Europa League…

No, not at all, to be honest. My first year I thought the Europa League was a bit too much for us until we came to the final, because we played every day pretty much. Wherever we had to fly to were long trips, coming back and trying to become a team somehow. The results helped obviously. We played in Switzerland, in Sion, it was, I’m not sure if it was artificial grass but it was a frozen pitch. I hope it will not be like that, to be honest. It was a different squad, we were actually not ready and we came somehow through. In the end in the quarter-finals and semi-finals we played outstandingly well, that’s true, but until then I don’t think we were exceptional, let me say it like this. But I wouldn’t compare it, it’s completely different. It’s a different time, a different team, we are better prepared for the competition. It doesn’t mean we will go to the final, it just means we are better prepared and we enjoy it more to be here than we did that time because we had no clue what we had to expect.

On if this match can be an opportunity for some players to gain minutes…

Absolutely no information about that, you will have to wait until tomorrow to have a look at the line-up. Enjoy it or don’t! But accept it and then we go. We are here to compete, not to give opportunities, for nobody: not for ours and not for them.

On the process of putting a team together and when he starts to be excited about its potential…

I don’t know how good it can be but I’m really excited about the potential, yeah. I said that already weeks ago, that I really think it looks really good. It’s now all about what we make of it. It’s actually never what you’ve got, it’s really what you make of it. That’s what we’ll see. You can see the spirit, something is growing. But we will see. They are really good with each other. We were late today, it was not our fault obviously but stood around quite a lot at the airport, waiting for whatever, and you see they enjoy spending time together. Now we have to use that; outside and then channel it and bring it on the pitch. This is a long season with strong, strong teams. And this tomorrow is a super-difficult game, I know that. I have no idea if we are already stable enough to do that as well again and again. But we will give it a proper try, that’s all I want, and then we work with whatever we got.

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On where Liverpool have to be careful against LASK…

In everything I think. I saw the last three games and it’s football. If they are under pressure they have a certain style of play and they take the second ball. It will be a difficult game. What would I do if I would play against Liverpool tomorrow? I would give everything and Liverpool would not enjoy it. We need to prepare ourselves and play very good football. Firstly, we have to be as motivated as they are. We are excited to come here and play in the Europa League. We didn’t watch the Champions League yesterday and didn’t miss the melody. We deserved the Europa League like LASK too.