Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool are prepared for the Champions League play-offs but must be ready psychologically for the critical early test in their season.
Liverpool will be seeded in Friday’s play-off draw alongside Sevilla, Napoli, CSKA Moscow and Sporting Lisbon. They will avoid an all-British tie against Celtic, and a reunion with their former manager Brendan Rodgers, after the Scottish champions beat Rosenborg on Wednesday in the third qualifying round to secure their place in the seeded half of the draw.
Liverpool can be drawn against Mario Balotelli’s Nice, Steaua Bucharest, Young Boys of Berne, Istanbul Basaksehir or Hoffenheim, the former club of Roberto Firmino, in the play-offs, to be staged on 15-16 August and 22-23 August.
“It is very important how you prepare and what state of mind you are in for games like this,” the Liverpool manager said in Munich, where his team lost the Audi Cup final to Atlético Madrid 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1. “If you want to win you want to draw a smaller opponent but we played against Bayern Munich last night and played much better than we did against Atlético.
“We looked very tired tonight. We want to make life very difficult for our opponents but all that happened tonight is that we conceded a goal. We had 20 shots. For many players it was a real experience. It is a perverse situation – you bring players into a situation where they have to play a game they shouldn’t play. I’m happy we don’t have to play again tomorrow.”
Liverpool’s unbeaten pre-season ended in a low-key finale to the Audi Cup. Klopp made nine changes to the team who started the 3-0 win over Bayern Munich 24 hours earlier and in a subdued first half the 19-year-old Albanian midfielder Keidi Bare headed Diego Simeone’s team ahead after Danny Ward had tipped Angel Correa’s shot on to the bar.
Firmino equalised with an 83rd-minute penalty to take the final to a shootout. Only Jordan Henderson failed to convert as Miguel Moyà saved low to his left.
Klopp said: “We wanted to win the penalty shootout but that is not the important situation. The boys played very well and did very good in their preparations. They could not have had a more difficult test than against Atlético Madrid, who are a team that just gets results, results, results.
“It was not easy. When we conceded we didn’t quite see the situation or think straightaway. The formation was not 100%. One lost ball at a header shouldn’t mean you go behind.”