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"If you start drinking and taking drugs because you are a Champions League winner, then I can't help you."


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The Champions League Group stage kicks off tonight, and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says his players are mentally grounded as they bid to go back to back.

The Reds are in Italy to face Napoli in Group E, with kick off at 8pm.

Liverpool have started the new Premier League season strongly, winning five games in a row. They have unfinished business with Napoli, having lost there in the Group phase last season.

The Merseyside club won the Champions League for a fifth time with a 2-0 victory over Tottenham in Madrid on June 1st. It softened the blow of missing out on the Premier League to Manchester City by a point.

Klopp says that his players remain hungry for success:

"You cannot imagine how normal it is to carry on after the celebrations; if you have the right character. If you start drinking and taking drugs, driving different cars and leaving your missus at home because you are a Champions League winner, then I can't help you, but we are not like this. We want to create more stories in the future.”

The colourful German also expressed the belief that Manchester City are the team to beat in this season's Champions League:

“We can't be the best team in Europe as Man City are the best team in the world. That's the same planet, I think.”

Joe Gomez could come in to the Liverpool 11 this evening.

The other match in that Group is between Salzburg and Genk. 

In Group H, Chelsea welcome Valencia to Stamford Bridge, also for an 8pm start. Frank Lampard's men will be hoping for a positive result against an unsettled Spanish outfit that sacked their manager Marcelino Garcia Toral last week. 

The other game in that Group sees Ajax host Lille. 

In Group F, Borussia Dortmund host Barcelona and it's Inter Milan versus Slavia Prague. 

In Group G, it's Lyon against Zenit Saint Petersburg and Benfica to take on Leipzig.


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