Jurgen Klopp names the two sides he wanted to avoid in the Champions League

Jurgen Klopp was relieved after Liverpool avoided drawing the two teams the German was hoping to swerve in Friday’s Champions League draw.

The Reds have hit top form at the perfect point in a season which could yet end with Klopp’s relentless winning machine achieving an unprecedented quadruple.

Liverpool extended their winning run in the Premier League to nine games following Wednesday’s comprehensive 2-0 win at Arsenal which moved them to within a point of long-time leaders and champions Manchester City.

An FA Cup quarter-final against Championship outfit Nottingham Forest stands between Liverpool and second trip to Wembley this season with the Carabao Cup already added to the trophy cabinet.

Liverpool, meanwhile, will play Benfica in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition and are likely to meet Bayern Munich in the last four and Klopp was delighted to avoid the possibility of an all-English two-legged affair.

Reflecting on the draw, Klopp said: ‘I would have taken everybody but the only thing I didn’t want was an English team.

‘We had that in the past and we went through, we played a final against an English team, it’s absolutely fine, in the final anyway you take whoever you get.

‘We play [the English clubs] often enough during a season and it’s good if you play somebody else.’

On the test that awaits Liverpool on Sunday, meanwhile, he added: ‘If we take only a little bit off the gas… not even fully, just a little bit – gone. Three competitions, ‘See you later’, no chance.

‘If we just go in that direction thinking, ‘That’s a little bit of a relief’ (the FA Cup) that would be a problem.

‘Yes, they are a Championship side but one in a really good moment. You can see how they set up in a system, big