Jurgen Klopp admits he will have to take a ‘closer look’ at two of our lesser-known Champions League opponents in the coming weeks.
Napoli are proving an increasingly familiar foe, but Salzburg and Genk, from Pots Three and Four, are more of an unknown quantity for the Reds.
That will necessitate plenty of research into how they might seek to nullify us or cause us problems.
And for Klopp, that research started with asking Divock Origi for an insight into Genk, a team from his Belgian homeland.
“I don’t know how often I’ve now played against Napoli, but they’re obviously a very experienced side,” Klopp began in his post-draw interview with the official club website.
“I will need now to have another, closer look at Genk and Salzburg, but I already know they are very young, very exciting.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played against Salzburg or Genk, so that’s interesting.
“It’s how it always is, it’s not an easy group and not a group where we can hide behind anybody.
“We have to try everything to go through, but we are really looking forward to it like always.
“Now we know the opponents, when we were walking off the pitch from training I immediately spoke with Divock about playing Genk!
“We will do our analysis and research on all three teams, but we know they all played exceptional seasons last year.
“Of course, Salzburg are famous for bringing through new players, like they did with Sadio and Naby – they’ve found a lot of others, too.
“It will be really interesting.
Focusing on Napoli, Klopp expects them to be out for revenge after the Reds dumped them out by the finest of margins.
Alisson’s wondersave from Arkadiusz Milik at the death on Matchday Six proved decisive.
“The way they play is clear and it’s really good,” he said.
“In the pre-season games, when we won 5-0 in Dublin I was not interested in the result.
“Now this year we lost 3-0 and that’s not too interesting, but you see just how good they are.
“They were not complete, we were not complete, but they are a really good side.
“Carlo [Ancelotti] has such experience and has won the competition so often.
“When they went out last year, it was pretty close – Ali made a big save in the last seconds, so they will remember that and it will be emotional, I am pretty sure.
“With the other two teams, I know how people are and immediately they will say these are the two ‘smaller teams’ of the group. They are not.
“I am not sure how it is for Genk, but for Salzburg they fought for so long and so hard to be part of the Champions League, so they will fight with whatever they have.
“They will have 30,000 in their stadium who will show how long they were waiting for it.
“That’s the group, so now let’s prepare for it.
Klopp, of course, is guarded against any complacency even after an outcome we all recognise as particularly favourable.
We do face our toughest test at the outset, with a trip to the Stadio San Paolo pencilled in for September 17.