Jurgen Klopp has hailed Real Madrid as one of the best teams in the world, as Liverpool prepare to welcome the Los Blancos to Anfield on Tuesday.

The Reds appear to be in great form right now, following back to back wins over Everton and Newcastle United, and face a Madrid team that are second in the La Liga this season.

Speaking ahead of the match, Klopp said: “Yeah, yeah, they are. Somebody told me – I don’t even know if it is true or not – that Carlo (Ancelotti) said after the final, ‘Liverpool was cool that day, they know exactly what they will face’ – after the final, before the final, I don’t know exactly.

“But I watched the game back now, even with knowing exactly what we will do – we have to win this game. We didn’t for the one reason: that we didn’t score and conceded. But apart from that, we should have won this game.

“But Carlo is the most relaxed manager I ever met in my life, one of the best people you can meet – fantastic person, humble person, super-smart and nice. Obviously his man-management is a completely different level to all of us and I respect that a lot, I admire that a lot.

“So yes, with this world-class team, which they were last year, brought in super-exciting young players. Maybe [they] struggle a bit in the league – I don’t know if you can call that struggling, but Barcelona is just a few points ahead – but apart from that, they are always super, super-competitive and super-difficult to beat. So, this combination is a difficult one – that’s true – but I think it makes absolute sense to try it anyway.”