Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui ready for Liverpool FA Cup challenge
Julen Lopetegui is ready for the 'good challenge' of his first FA Cup match as Wolves travel to Liverpool tomorrow.
Wolves arrive on Merseyside with two days less recovery than their opponents and are expected to make a handful of changes.
But Lopetegui is still determined to leave the North West with a win, and is relishing his first taste of the competition.
He said: “We have a big vision for this cup. In the same way, we are thinking and working in the best way, knowing that we have played a very hard match two days ago.
“For today, maybe we can’t work normally because a lot of players have to recuperate, but tomorrow we are going to be ready to try and beat a fantastic team in Liverpool, one of the best teams in the world, who have an incredible squad and a fantastic coach, so it’s going to be a good challenge for us.
“Our focus is on tomorrow’s match in the FA Cup. It’s a very important competition in England. We know that Liverpool have had two days more than us to prepare the match and to be rested, and we also have one other match in three days in Carabao Cup.
“But we have to assess this situation to be able to do a good match against a fantastic team tomorrow, for me, one of the best teams in the world.
“The cup in Spain is a big tournament too, but maybe the meaning that the FA Cup has in England is going to be a little bit different because of the history of this cup.
“I have to enjoy this environment tomorrow, but in the same way, we want to enjoy and win a good match. We are going to try to be ready to convince the players that despite all the difficulties that we have, we will be ready to be competitive tomorrow.”
Around 5,700 Wolves fans are travelling for the 8pm kick-off tomorrow and Lopetegui says his side take 'extra strength' from that support.
He added: “This is why it’s important. This is where the extra strengths for us and energy for us comes from because we want to try and give back to all the fans and make it a good match, and in the end, trying to get our aim, which is to continue in the FA Cup
“It’s going to be a very hard task, but we’re going to try our best.”
