Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp delighted with 'great' Manchester United Europa League draw

Jurgen Klopp's wish appears to have come true after Liverpool were pitted against Manchester United during the draw for the last 16 of the Europa League at Uefa's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. An early second-leg penalty from James Milner was enough to secure a narrow aggregate victory over Augsburg and the Reds will now host their bitter rivals on 10 March before making the short trip to Old Trafford seven days later.

Liverpool have failed to take a single point from their previous two meetings with Manchester United this term, with a side led by former manager Brendan Rodgers crashing to a 3-1 defeat in September 2015 despite a wonderful overhead kick from Christian Benteke.

Wayne Rooney's first goal at Anfield for 11 years wrapped up another victory for Louis van Gaal's side on Merseyside in January, although Klopp evidently holds no fear over the prospect of two further meetings between the clubs having hoped for such an outcome before the draw even took place.

"It's great," he was quoted as saying by the Liverpool Echo. "We deserve these games. It's not easy. I told my staff yesterday that I wanted Man United. We had a good game and lost 1-0. It was not what we deserve. It gives us the chance to make it better. In this round, there is no easy games. Manchester United? Good."

'Now I have to make decisions'

Klopp was speaking ahead of the 2015-16 Capital One Cup final, where Liverpool will face Manchester City at Wembley on 28 February in a bid to collect their first piece of silverware since a penalty-shootout win over Championship outfit Cardiff in 2012.

Midfielders Joe Allen and Adam Lallana returned to first-team training on 26 February after suffering from hamstring and calf strains respectively, while Dejan Lovren should be fit to feature having being ruled out of the second leg against Augsburg due to illness. Fellow centre-back Martin Skrtel could also be in contention after two months out but Kevin Stewart remains sidelined along with long-term absentees Danny Ings and Joe Gomez.

Addressing how he would approach his team selection for Wembley, Klopp said: "Making a squad this time is the best thing I have to do and the most difficult thing I have had to do. We've had a lot of problems since my time here but I've never had the problem of having too many players.

"Some players will be disappointed, for sure. I had 30 players in training and it was of the highest level. They are all ready but now I have to make decisions. Not today but overnight. But I will make them, so it's no problem."

Remaining understandably coy on his tactics ahead of the game, the German added: "All I will say it will be completely different, or not. I won't talk about tactics here. Even in Manchester they have televisions. I understand your question but I won't say. We have a plan and my players will know."