Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is happy locking horns with Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea tonight.

Writing in his match programme notes, Klopp stated:

"Ever since I have been in England – and clearly for much longer than that – the games that we have had against Chelsea have only ever been hugely competitive, a proper fight I would say, so it makes sense that we should not expect anything different tonight.

"It is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that Chelsea are a team which is very much in the clear improvement stage of their development cycle under Mauricio Pochettino, a manager and a person who I could not have more respect for but also someone, like anyone else, was going to need time to reach this point with what is effectively a new team.

"The fact that he has reached a final in his first season in charge speaks volumes and we look forward to meeting Chelsea at Wembley next month but, at the same time, we know that they are an opponent with so much quality and so much room to become even better. We will need to be on our toes in both games, I will put it like this.

"Mauricio was actually my first managerial opponent in the Premier League and of course we met in the Champions League final in 2019 and in my experience he has always done a brilliant job. He is also a great guy left and right of the games that we play against one another so I am looking forward to seeing him tonight and welcoming him and his staff to Anfield."