Reds are happy with the Champions League draw.

By J Wade
January 9 2005

Liverpool fans dreaded the worst before the Champions League draw on Friday. However they came out if the draw with a fixture they're relieved about.

After Gerrard had put Liverpool through against Olympiacos they were still second which meant they could have been drawn against:

-Juventus
-AC Milan
-Inter Milan
-Lyon
-Bayer Leverkusen

Liverpool are very happy with the draw including Benitez who said he’d rather play a German team than an Italian team. Liverpool fans believe that they got the easiest possible draw unlike the other English clubs.

Manchester United were drawn against AC Milan, Arsenal against FC Bayern Munich and the pick of the bunch Chelsea versus Barcelona.

Leverkusen have never won the Champions League but came close in the 2001/2002 season when they got beat by Real Madrid in the final. In that same campaign they actually knocked the Reds out in the Quarter Finals and then Man United in the Semi Finals. Liverpool lost to the German club 4-3 on aggregate. No Liverpool fan will forget the 6-goal thriller, which knocked Liverpool out. Liverpool will be looking to get revenge after the bitter defeat that seen the Reds go down 4-2 at the BayArena.

The Germans currently sit a disappointing 8th in the BundesLiga but topped their Champions League group that included Madrid, Roma and Dynamo Kiev.
They may not be the same team that beat us 3 seasons ago with departure of key players such as Ballack and Ze Roberto but will still prove to be a formidable team to are desire of another European trophy.