Jürgen Klopp has described Liverpool's first European fixture against Manchester United as the "mother of all games" but said he will not prioritise either the Europa League or the Premier League as a possible route into Champions League football next season.

The German knows his opposite number, Louis van Gaal, of old from his time in the Bundesliga and speaks highly of the former Bayern Munich coach, even as two of English football's most successful clubs prepare to go head to head for a place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Wrong shirt

"I don't believe in enemies in football, I believe in real opponents," said Klopp "I have absolutely no problem with Louis van Gaal but the last thing I want is for him to win. You can have good friends in football but not for the 95 minutes when you are wearing the wrong shirt. You can forget all the common experiences in your life then. A game like this is the mother of all football games, a derby, two old rivals in a knockout competition. For the next two games we have to try to make United's problems bigger. The whole of Liverpool is excited about the chance, right now it is the only thing that counts."

Klopp imagines the atmosphere at Anfield will be reminiscent of big Champions League occasions, perhaps the best for several seasons. “Hopefully it will set a new level in the recent history of Liverpool, since I’ve been here anyway,” he said. “There is talk of it being a game at Champions league level, but I don’t really know what that means. I have seen a lot of rubbish games at Champions League level, but I don’t think this one will disappoint.

“Anyone reading and hearing all the things said about Manchester United recently might think they had big problems, but three games later they were close to the Champions League and lots of teams would love problems like that. That’s why I love football, you can never have enough of games like this. I couldn’t imagine years ago when I started out that one day I would be sitting on the Liverpool bench playing a European game against Manchester United.”

Liverpool go into the match on the back of successive Premier League wins, while United’s recent revival was checked by defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. However, Klopp believes there is evidence that United have turned a corner under Van Gaal.

Four matches

“I would say both clubs are in a good moment,” the Liverpool manager said. “Okay, they lost their last game after winning four in a row but there had been a lot of pressure on Louis van Gaal and United and they handled it really well. I don’t think United winning the last four matches between the clubs means anything, this is over two legs and I don’t believe they have that much more quality than us. It’s pretty close. I said when the draw was made that I was happy with it, because it is an exciting tie not because I think it is going to be easy.

“We will try to keep focused on the games rather than working out the best way into the Champions League. Both routes are quite difficult. We cannot get close enough in the Premier League if the teams above us keep winning, and in the Europa League there are further rounds to win even if we get past Manchester United.

“Now you can see the finish line in this tournament there are only good teams left, it’s something like a small version of the Champions League in its own right.” Guardian Service