Liverpool’s Champions League performances have earned them ‘respect’ says Andrew Robertson
No team will want to play Liverpool in the Champions League last 16, says Reds defender Andrew Robertson.
The European champions beat Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 on Tuesday to advance as Group E winners.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have reached the final in the past two seasons and are unbeaten in the Premier League.
“We’re respected in this tournament. The way we’ve done things in the last two years, nobody wants to play against us,” said 25-year-old Robertson.
“That’s the atmosphere we’ve created, a team which has been to the final twice and has lost one and won one.
“Maybe the first season when we went to the final, I don’t think we were really respected until maybe after the quarter-final when we went to Porto and washed them away [winning 5-0 in Portugal].
“We did not get the respect we deserved. Now, we know we are respected in Europe. No-one will want us.”
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The draw for the last 16 takes place at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland at 11:00 GMT on Monday.
Liverpool won four, drew one and lost one of their games to top the group, meaning they will avoid any of the other group winners – Paris St-Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, RB Leipzig and Valencia – in the last 16.
No two sides from the same nation can be drawn together, so the Reds will also avoid Tottenham and Chelsea, as well as Napoli, who finished second in Group E.
That means they could face Atalanta or Lyon, although Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are also potential opponents.
“We’ll wait for the draw and see who we get in the last 16,” added Robertson. “We know it’ll be tough regardless but we look forward to the challenge as we want to go far in this tournament again.
“Last year and the year before we’ve been excellent in the knockout stages and we’ve controlled games but we know that now we’re the champions and everyone wants to beat us.”
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