Ralph Hasenhüttl 'happy' Liverpool played 120 minutes in mid-week | OneFootball

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhüttl says he was happy Liverpool were forced to play 120 minutes against Chelsea on Wednesday, but not for the reason you might expect.

Saints host Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, just three days after Jürgen Klopp’s side won the Uefa Super Cup on penalties in Istanbul.

Speaking afterwards, Klopp suggested Hasenhüttl would be particularly pleased that the game went the distance, but the Austrian isn’t expecting the visitors’ tiredness to affect this weekend’s game.

“I heard the message from Jürgen that he thought we would celebrate, I was happy that they were playing longer – I was happy, but mostly because of the reason I have more pictures to show my players,” Hasenhüttl told reporters.

“Last year Liverpool I think they played 13 times in the week and in the 13 times they played at the weekend, they won 11 and drew two.

“This team has so much quality, and Jürgen tries to puts out maybe a little bit of an excuse for the fitness from his players.

“But he doesn’t have to, they have such quality, it is not a problem for them after 120 minutes on the Wednesday to come here and make a good game.

“In modern football and especially with these big teams, they get used to it. We are at the beginning of the season and that does not really mean they are tired.

“I expect the best possible Liverpool team you can imagine, and we are preparing for this. This doesn’t interest me, though, because we want to show a reaction (after losing 3-0 at Burnley).

“My players like to show up and that they can be a more difficult opponent than last week, this is the goal we have.”

Hasenhüttl also confirmed that new signing Kevin Danso could make his debut against Liverpool having trained with his new team-mates all week.