"Respect for us" - Unai Emery on facing Liverpool in the Champions League

Unai Emery has spoken about his Villarreal side competing with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in the semi-final of the Champions League.

Liverpool are one of the favourites to win the Champions League this season and Villareal's manager, Unai Emery, is fully aware of that.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday's game, as cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, Emery said that he has additional motivation to beat this Liverpool side as they're one of the best ever Liverpool teams.

"This is the best Liverpool side that I can remember. They will feel like favourites, of course, but will have respect for us," said Emery.

"They are the number one favourites to win this competition. The team is a mirror of their coach, Jurgen Klopp, in terms of playing with joy, with enthusiasm. They are in the best moment.

"I remember my experiences against Liverpool at Anfield as challenging. I recognise the work done and the identity created by Klopp, which has since been further improved.

"I see that as an additional motivation for me, to try and beat the best-ever Liverpool. For that, we will need to show our best version."

Anfield Watch Verdict

This isn't going to be a walk in the park for Liverpool. Villarreal have beaten some really good sides in this campaign.

They were the underdogs vs Juventus and Bayern Munich but here they are, in a semi-final of the Champions League.

Klopp has faced Emery five times during his managerial career, beating him three times, drawing once and losing once. That loss was in the 2016 Europa League final against the Spaniard's Sevilla side.

With two more games on the cards, the German will be hoping that he can best the former Arsenal manager on both occasions to put the Reds into another Champions League final.