Rafa Benitez has accepted Jurgen Klopp's current Liverpool side is better than his Istanbul heroes.
Former Reds boss Benitez was in charge the last time the Merseyside club won the Champions League - as they overcame AC Milan in 2005.
The Reds sensationally came from 3-0 down to beat the Serie A side on penalties - with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jerzy Dudek and Jamie Carragher among the big names in the squad.
Klopp's generation are hoping to replicate the stars from 14 years ago when they face Tottenham at the Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday night.
And current Newcastle manager Benitez is slightly envious of Klopp's ability to pick the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah, Alisson and Sadio Mane - and still have an embarrassment of riches on the bench to chose from.
"I want to be very respectful about my team, but this team is much better,"Benitez told the Liverpool Echo. "Not just the team, but the squad.
"In my time at Liverpool we had (Fernando) Torres as a striker and (David) Ngog, who was a good player and a good lad but we paid £1.5million for him. He was on the bench.
"Now you have (Xherdan) Shaqiri, (Daniel) Sturridge and (Divock) Origi on the bench so it's totally different. Times have changed.
"What we achieved was good because to win against that AC Milan team was a massive achievement and the way in which we did it.
"Now Liverpool have a lot of good players. People were talking about them having some problems in defence and they were able to sign Virgil van Dijk for a lot of money and then the keeper (Alisson).
"I think this is a stronger Liverpool and the teams around are also stronger."
