Jurgen Klopp admits he laughed when he discovered Liverpool had been handed a "tough" Champions League assignment.
The Reds have been drawn in Group B alongside Spanish champions Atletico Madrid, Portuguese side Porto and Italian giants AC Milan in this season's competition.
Klopp's side were eliminated by Atletico in the Champions League two years ago but beat Porto on the way to reaching the final in 2018 and 2019.
And the Liverpool boss has pointed to plenty of history with the three rivals.
"I laughed, to be honest, pretty loud because it is a tough group obviously," said Klopp.
"It's Champions League, so that's how it is, and you have to play the best teams in Europe, and obviously some of them are in our group!
"We played, I don't know how often, already against Porto, so they will be waiting for us. We have obviously a little bit of (an) open bill with Atletico, and AC Milan, a historical one obviously.
"So, I think our supporters should be looking forward to it – we do, for sure.
"I know that people sit always at home and think, 'Ah come on, that would be cool, then you have this team together and the worst of pot four and the worst of pot one' and all this kind of stuff.
"So, we didn't get that obviously but we're still pretty ambitious and would like to show the really hard work from last year, qualifying for the Champions League, that it was worth it. That's how we will play the games."
Liverpool are expected to discover their fixture schedule for the group stage before Saturday lunchtime, with the first match taking place on September 14 or 15.
And with the Reds playing seven games in 22 days following the forthcoming international break, it will be a first real test of a squad yet to be finalised with the transfer deadline approaching on Tuesday night.
"It's not that we play in the Champions League and have a look at who can play in the Champions League and then who can then play in the Premier League," said Klopp, speaking to liverpoolfc.com.
"No, we try to bring the best team always on the pitch. But we need the squad definitely for the whole year, that's definitely the case."
