Ronny Levy, the former Maccabi Haifa, boss is relishing locking horns with Yossi Benayoun’s Liverpool after taking charge of Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni.

Levy, 43, replaces former Chelsea player Dan Petrescu and will spearhead Unirea’s Europa League’s challenge next month. He has signed an 18-month contract worth 450,000 Euros.

Levy said: “I’ve always wanted to coach in Europe. This is a great challenge for me. The game against Liverpool will be very special, and of course one of my aims is to take Unirea as far as possible in Europe. But my top priority is to retain the Romanian championship.”

He has already faced Liverpool once before when Haifa lost 3-2 on aggregate in the Champions League qualifying round in 2006.