Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp confirmed that his team deserved to be in the European League, and is bothered to have to settle for a place in Europe's second-tier competition. Liverpool is in Austria as they prepare to play European football on a Thursday night for the first time in seven years. Klopp said during the press conference for the LASK Linz match: “It will be a difficult game but what would I do against Liverpool? I would give it everything and Liverpool would not like it. We have to prepare it and we have to be as motivated as they are. We are excited; we didn't watch the Champions League and didn't miss the melody. So, we deserve the Europa League like LASK too.: On Thursday the Reds take on LASK as they return to a competition in which their last appearance was the 2016 final defeat to Sevilla in the German’s first season at the club. Since then Liverpool has won the Champions League reached two other finals and lifted the Premier League, the Club World Cup, the FA Cup, and Carabao Cup. He continued: “We are here to compete, not to give opportunities,” he said. “My first year I thought the Europa League was a bit too much for us until we got to the final. We had to fly to Russia and play on a frozen pitch in Sion. “That was a different squad. We were not ready and we came through somehow. I don’t think we were exceptional until the quarter-final, semi-final.”