Liverpool travel south to play Southampton in the Premier League on Friday night.
The Reds take on the Saints at St Mary's Stadium in a match set to kick-off at 8pm .
The game will see Jurgen Klopp come face-to-face with Ralph Hasenhuttl - a man who the Liverpool manager has admitted he came close to signing while in charge at Mainz.
"I thought about signing him as a back-up striker for different situations when I was manager at Mainz," Klopp said.
"That would have been funny!
"Each little step in his managerial career, he has really worked hard for and deserves all the praise for it.
"It was a smart decision by Southampton to go for him."
The Reds manager was in a jovial and relaxed mood talking to Sky Sports ahead of a crucial Premier League clash that could see Liverpool return to the top of the table.
The German outlined how he believes his side are now a "proper force" and how he is focused on making his team as difficult to play against as possible for all teams between now and the end of the season.
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"We have a really good team together, as a club," he said.
"It's a proper force, we have a lot of power in and around the club.
"Take all the dreams together and that can be a real high energy, or create a proper energy going forward.
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"It took a while obviously until everybody thought it, but it's obvious.
"We will probably qualify for the third time in a row for the Champions League , it's been a while since that happened, we are fighting for the top spot in the league and we are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, it's obvious.
"We want to be a difficult opponent, for all the teams.
"We can improve, oh yes, so much, of course we can improve, we have to, but at the moment we put all our skills, all our potential, all our desire together and go for the next game.
"That's what we're doing at the moment. This year is to use what we have with 100% and that makes us a difficult opponent to play because we find different ways to win football games. We are always difficult to play."
