Football
Mark Ogden, Senior Writer, ESPN FC 7y

Garry Monk: Leeds not going to Anfield to marvel at 'world class' Liverpool

LEEDS, England -- Garry Monk has insisted his Leeds United team can extend the club's recent revival by producing an EFL Cup shock against Liverpool at Anfield.

Leeds, marooned in the lower divisions since being relegated from the Premier League in 2004, face Jurgen Klopp's team in Tuesday's quarterfinal having climbed to fifth in the Championship with a 2-1 victory at Rotherham United on Saturday.

The Elland Road club, who won the last of their three league championships as recently at 1992, will visit Anfield for the first time since October 2003 when they take on the Premier League title challengers.

But despite his club's fall from grace since relegation from the top flight, Monk insists that a growing sense of confidence at Leeds ensures his players can travel to Liverpool believing that the can win.

"For sure, we are the underdogs," Monk said while giving an interview to ESPN FC. "I have a very young group and a lot of them won't have experienced Anfield or that type of crowd and atmosphere, or quality of opposition before.

"But for me, it's about them going out and enjoying it because there is no pressure on us whatsoever.

"We are going there to win the game and we have to go there like that."

Monk, appointed as Leeds manager in the summer after being sacked by Swansea City last December, has backed his players to learn from the experience of facing Liverpool rather be overawed by the prospect.

"It is good for the young lads to experience all this, but we are not just going there to play at Anfield, to play against Liverpool and look at their players," he said. "They are a fantastic team and there will be a lot of world-class players on the pitch.

"We are at Anfield, so there are a lot of things that are against us, but football is football and anything can happen in 90 minutes.

"We will go there and put a performance on. We understand how difficult it is, and how everything is against us, but that is why we go there with no pressure.

"The biggest test for us is to put our mentality onto the pitch and play the game.

"It's 90 minutes and we are going to have to sacrifice a lot to even stand a chance, but one thing we definitely do have is a chance."

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