Juergen Klopp s desire to play Arsenal in the Champions League has been granted, with the German revealing he had a pre-draw premonition.
Last year s finalists Borussia Dortmund will play Arsene Wenger s Arsenal, Napoli and Marseille in Group F, but it is the clashes with the London club that has the German coach salivating.
I somehow already had the feeling last week that we would get Arsenal, Klopp said on Friday.
I don t why but that s why I watched Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday on TV and I was impressed by how good they were.
Seemingly annual criticism of Wenger s lack of movement in the transfer market has reached boiling point this season but Klopp said he saw no problems with Arsenal s squad depth.
Everyone kept saying they have lots of problems, Wenger can t get rid of his money, he doesn t get players for his money, but I was very impressed how strong they are, Klopp said.
The 46-year-old former Mainz head coach said the lure of playing in England was a huge incentive.
(Playing against an English side is) appealing. To compete against people, a club who comes from a country that is similarly crazy about football as ours. And that is what it is about, Klopp said.
Everyone is watching, every player wants to play, enjoying the atmosphere. I had to wait the majority of my life before I was allowed to be part of a game in England.
And I wasn t disappointed. I think the atmosphere is better here, I thought that it would be different but it is still really cool there.
Klopp also admitted some surprise at seeing new Schalke signing Kevin-Prince Boateng spurn his overtures.
Boateng and Klopp have a strong relationship after the former was on loan at Dortmund from Tottenham in the second half of the 2008/09 season.
Klopp has been a big admirer of the 26-year-old midfielder and had been keen to secure Boateng from Milan, only to see him join Dortmund s arch-rivals Schalke on a four-year contract.
I cannot say anything about it. I was really surprised. My son asked me if it was true and the first thing I said was that I couldn t imagine it but now we have to deal with the facts, Klopp said before adding with a laugh: He (Boateng) didn t text me back.
I thought we were in touch but this morning I sent him a text at 11:01 saying Schalke with eight question marks, but nothing came back, but he doesn t have to feel ashamed, it s all good.
