Benfica's technical director and club legend Luisao says drawing Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League is 'difficult', but he hopes they can replicate their 2006 heroics.
The draw took place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday and the Reds will take on the Portuguese outfit on April 5 and 13. Should they progress, they will then face the winners of Villarreal vs Bayern Munich.
Liverpool have met Benfica previously in Europe, their last meeting was in the quarter-final stage of the Europa League in 2010, where Rafa Benitez's side progressed 5-3 on aggregate. They faced each other in the round-of-16 in the Champions League back in 2006, but the Reds were defeated 3-0 over two legs.
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Luisao played for Benfica on both those occasions, but Liverpool are an entirely different prospect now and he admitted it's a 'challenging' draw for his team, who sit third in the Primeira Liga.
“It was a difficult, challenging draw for us. But I can remember that in 2006 we had a tie against Liverpool that we managed to overcome. I hope that we are also prepared for this one," the former Benfica captain told Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha after the draw.
“The strong point is from the midfield to the front, they have high-level players, defensively too... The attack is the strongest."
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson admitted facing Benfica will be a 'tough test' for the team as they remain in the hunt for more silverware this season.
"It’s always going to be tough, to be honest, no matter who you get, so I don’t really look too much at that," he told liverpoolfc.com. "Whoever we get, we concentrate on that and we give it everything like we always do."
"Benfica will obviously be another difficult opponent, they knocked Ajax out of the last round, who I think were unbeaten up until that point and away from home as well they won. So it’ll be a tough test for us again but it always is in the Champions League, especially in the knockout rounds."
