Football
ESPN staff 6y

Jurgen Klopp happy for Liverpool to travel to Porto in round of 16

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he's glad to have drawn a trip to fair-weather Portugal in February as his side begin the Champions League knockout stage against Porto.

In Monday's draw, Liverpool could have faced a winter trip to the likes of Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayern Munich or Basel, but will instead play on the Portuguese coast in the first leg on Feb. 14, before returning to Anfield on March 6.

Liverpool also escaped possible draws against Juventus and Real Madrid, but Klopp warned that Porto, level on points with Sporting atop the Portuguese Liga, would not be pushovers.

"Porto are a strong side, first in the Portuguese league and always good," he told Liverpool's website. "This year again they're a difficult side to play.

"They came through in a difficult group; they kept Leipzig -- a really good side in Germany -- behind them. It will be interesting.

"It's good that we have the first game at Porto, the weather is better there in February! Then in March we meet them at Anfield. We are really looking forward to it."

But Klopp said Liverpool would wait to prepare for the tie, with 11 Premier League games and an FA Cup clash with local rivals Everton scheduled before the Champions League resumes.

"We have time. Portugal doesn't have a proper winter break, one week or 10 days off. We have enough games to watch and we will watch all of them. It's in around about two months, so we don't have to watch the Champions League games too much. We have the league games.

"We'll see, so many things can happen -- the transfer window, injuries, everything can happen. We dreamt of this, so we are really looking forward to playing the games. But I think we have 20 games from now until then, so a few things to do until then."

Liverpool are unbeaten in four previous European games against Porto, with two wins at Anfield and two draws at Porto. They last met in the 2007 Champions League group stage.

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