Antonio Rudiger believes Liverpool will take inspiration from their 7-0 win over Manchester United when they visit Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
And the Germany international admits he is wary of Jurgen Klopp's men starting at a blistering pace when they aim to achieve a historic comeback in the Spanish capital.
The European champions host the Reds with a 5-2 lead from the first leg at Anfield but despite their healthy scoreline, Rudiger has called on his colleagues to avoid falling behind in the manner they did on Merseyside when goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah gave them a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes.
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Former Chelsea centre-back Rudiger says Liverpool's famous win over United on March 5 is proof of how Klopp's men can perform to their maximum on the big stage as he urged caution ahead of the second leg.
"We have to approach the opening a bit better than at Anfield because you cannot afford to sleep in the first 15 minutes against a team like Liverpool," Rudiger said. "We saw what happened, we need to find the right balance between attacking and defending.
"As I said before, it's about not sleeping in the first 15 minutes and that is very important. We have to find the right balance, this is, for us, very important and not only coming here to defend and say we have a three-goal lead. We have to also please our fans and gain confidence for ourselves.
"Liverpool have a very good attacking team and scored seven against Manchester United, who are a big rival, so that shows that they rise to the big occasions and we need to be aware of that.
"Like when you concede goals you are criticised which is okay, no problem, at the end of the day we have to improve on that, of course. We're on our way towards doing that."
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