'Augsburg are a dangerous opponent for Liverpool'
Liverpool's reward for navigating the group stages of the Europa League is a last 32 tie against FC Augsburg to be played over two legs in February.
The Reds have met the Bavarians just once before in their history, a friendly fixture back in 1952 which pitted the likes of Billy Liddell against a team then known as BC Augsburg.
As a club who played their football in the fourth tier as recently as 2002 and had never qualified for Europe prior to this season, Markus Weinzierl's team may not be a familiar name to many Liverpool supporters.
So, to find out more about the side who stand between Jürgen Klopp's men and European glory, we looked to German football expert Raphael Honigstein for insight.
Read on for his crash guide to FC Augsburg...
What can you tell us about Augsburg this season and generally?
They had a bit of a nightmare start but they've since really picked up good form and started to have some good results. They qualified last minute to make a miraculous escape from the group stages and reach the knockouts of the Europa League. The momentum has really shifted and everybody's really happy again. Markus Weinzierl, the manager, it's absolutely amazing what he does because he has the lowest budget in the league - to finish where they did last year (fifth) was a miracle in itself. To be able to sustain that to a certain extent is really testament to how well they're doing. They're a really well-run club who have come from relative obscurity and are now in what is only their fifth season in the Bundesliga against the odds.
What are Augsburg's big strengths?
Raul Bobadilla is a very big player for them in all senses of the word. He's quite robust and stocky and he is a huge player for them; he scores a lot of goals, his running is really good. They are one of those teams who try to press you and force mistakes, you can't rest a single minute against them. They don't have as much technique in the team but they really work hard as a team, play as a team and that's why they outperform those with much bigger budgets. That's what makes them a dangerous opponent for Liverpool.
Jürgen Klopp suffered defeat to Augsburg when he last met them with Borussia Dortmund...
I don't know if the newspapers came up with it, but people were saying Augsburg were like a 'mini Dortmund' and it was a reference to the way they play and the way they get a lot out of players who you wouldn't expect to be as high up the table. They also beat Guardiola's Bayern. They're awkward, really aggressive, and they absolutely 100 per cent enjoy being in the Europa League. That's something that shouldn't be underestimated because they absolutely love it. It's their first ever Europa League campaign - they enjoy the fact that they're there. I was in Munich yesterday and a lot of people in Bavaria were already talking about this game and how amazing it would be to see Augsburg host Liverpool and for them to travel to Anfield.
What can travelling fans expect from the city?
The city is really quite beautiful. It used to be quite a big city in medieval times and a very rich banking family, the Fuggers, were there and they made it into quite an important centre. Later on, Munich became a bigger city and Augsburg were a little bit left behind. It's easy to go to Munich and take a train so even if you can't find a place to stay in Augsburg, which is quite small, you can go to Munich or even Stuttgart and stay there.