Bayer Leverkusen are confident of maintaining their 100 percent record in the Champions League playoffs despite being drawn against the "most difficult opponent" Lazio.
The Bundesliga club hope to qualify for Champions League for a 10th time when they take on Lazio in the playoffs on Tuesday, Aug. 18 and on Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Roger Schmidt's side will travel to Rome for the first leg, before hosting the Italians at the Bay-Arena eight days later.
Leverkusen are competing in the playoffs for a fifth time, and have yet to be denied at this stage. They beat Dinamo Tiflis in 1997, Red Star in 2001, Banik Ostrava in 2004 and FC Copenhagen last season.
Leverkusen sporting executive Rudi Voller, a player for Lazio's local rivals Roma from 1987 through to 1992, said: "Rome is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but sadly they also play pretty good football there. Next to Monaco, Lazio were the most difficult opponent. They are at eye-level with us. It's a 50-50 match."
Coach Roger Schmidt echoed Voller's words, but believes playing the second leg at the Bay-Arena will help Leverkusen qualify for the group stage.
"It's like a round-of-16 clash," he said. "We'll analyse Lazio thoroughly, and I am confident that we have every chance of prevailing."
The Leverkusen chief also commented on Lazio attacker Miro Klose, who will return to his native Germany once more in what could be the final year of his impressive career.
"He's still dangerous, and can do a lot from very little," Schmidt said.
Leverkusen and Lazio have previously met in the Champions League during the 1999-00 season, with both ties during the group stage resulting in a 1-1 draw.
Lazio coach Stefano Pioli, meanwhile, preferred to focus on his side's Italian Supercoppa tie with Juventus on Saturday rather than be distracted by the draw with Lazio.
Speaking at a prematch news conference in Shanghai, Pioli said: "As far as the Champions League draw's concerned, Bayer Leverkusen are a side I know very well.
"Last season, they had a great Champions League campaign. We'll give it our best against them and we want to show we're competitive enough to reach important objectives."
Lazio qualified for the playoffs by beating Napoli on the final day of the last Serie A season to clinch third in the standings.
"I think we've got to forget about that now and think of the new season," Pioli said. "We're starting out from zero again. We don't have any points in the table -- we have zero. We hope it will be an exciting season for us, but it's certainly going to be complicated.
"But we feel we're absolutely ready for everything, and now it will be the pitch which delivers the final verdict."