David Moyes refused to play the underdog card after West Ham were drawn against Europa League favourites and six-time winners Sevilla in the last 16.
The Hammers will travel to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium on March 10 for the first leg, at the ground which will host the final.
Moyes’ immediate response was: “It will be good to get used to the stadium!”
The Hammers boss may have had his tongue firmly in his cheek, but he is clearly relishing the opportunity to rub shoulders with Europe’s elite.
“I think it’s the pick of the round,” he said. “Sevilla have been unbelievable in winning the competition. They’re probably the form side in Spain after Real Madrid at the moment.
“It’s a really tough game, but we want to test ourselves against the best.”
Former Celtic defender Moyes added: “I was looking forward to the prospect of going to Rangers, but great credit to them for getting through against Dortmund.
“We’ve played well in Europe and we’ll take big support to Seville and really look forward to it.
“There is more pressure on them than there is on us because we’re new to it. We’re getting used to it and hopefully we’ll get more used to it in the future.
“This is the sort of level you want to be competing at, with European football after Christmas, and we’re going into a really exciting period and one we’ve not been in for a long period as a football club.”
Europe will be on the backburner on Sunday as West Ham host Wolves, with both clubs well in the hunt for a top-four finish, before an FA Cup fifth-round trip to Southampton.
“You take the games individually, and the first is Wolves in the league, then we have an FA Cup tie and Europe, which is really exciting,” said Moyes.
“We’re in a good place, but we want to improve on it if we can.”
The Hammers have given Ukrainian winger Andriy Yarmolenko compassionate leave due to the situation in his homeland.
They will also be without Vladimir Coufal, who has had groin surgery, but Manuel Lanzini could return after an Achilles injury.
