Friday, August 28, 2009

Reds Happy With Euro Draw

Christian Purslow feels Liverpool have been handed a favourable draw in the UEFA Champions League.

The Reds' managing director was in Monaco on Thursday to see the Merseysiders paired alongside Lyon, Fiorentina and Debrecen.

With little travelling involved in away trips for any of the sides in Group E, Purslow admits he could not have hoped for much more.

"We are very happy," he told Sky Sports News.

"We tend to focus on our travel commitments - short trip to France, short trip to Italy and a slightly longer trip to Hungary - we are pretty happy with that."

Ligue 1 giants Lyon and Serie A outfit Fiorentina have prior experience of life in Europe's premier club competition, while Debrecen are competing at this level for the first time.

The Hungarian champions will be something of an unknown quantity for Liverpool, but Purslow is pleased to see French and Italian representatives alongside the Reds.

"Both have come through the qualifiers, so that means they're doing something right, and I think they are very well known European opponents who won't bring us any surprises," he added.

Liverpool have endured a difficult start to the 2009/10 campaign, losing two of their first three fixtures in the Premier League, with question marks raised over the club's decision to offload key midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Few new additions have been brought into Rafa Benitez's squad to help build on last season's impressive campaign, but Purslow insists Reds supporters should not expect further fresh faces to be acquired by the time the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

"I wouldn't bank on it," he said.

Finally, with Uefa trialling a new scheme in the Europa League this season, with five match officials involved in each game, Purslow admits he would be happy to see the idea phased into the Champions League in the future.

He said: "I think technology is a good thing. The stakes are so high now in all sport, especially professional football, that anything that helps is a good thing.

"We saw the goal that wasn't at the start of this season in the Championship and if that were to happen at the highest level of football, the Champions League, then it would be very costly for all concerned. We are a big supporter of this."

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