Steaua Bucharest boss Ilie Dumitrescu believes the Liverpool squad sent out by Roy Hodgson in Thursday night's Europa League fixture was still a very strong one.

Hodgson made eight changes to the team that drew with Birmingham in the Premier League last weekend, leaving out stars like Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, but former Tottenham and West Ham midfielder Dumitrescu thought the team that beat his 4-1 was definitely not second-rate.

"You have Maxi Rodriguez, David Ngog, Ryan Babel, Joe Cole - they are quality players and it is a very strong squad and they look organised," he said.