Spartak Moscow coach Massimo Carrera says he has spoken to Chelsea boss Antonio Conte ahead of the Russian side's encounter with Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Carrera worked as an assistant under Conte during spells at Juventus and with the Italian national team.

When asked whether he had gone to Conte for advice on how to play against Liverpool, Carrera said: "I did call him the other day but it's not just Liverpool we discussed. We talked about our families, private matters and all that. Liverpool were also mentioned, of course.

"No need to point out any of the players -- all of them are of exceptional quality. But it doesn't change anything, our task is to neutralise them all and play to our strengths."

Spartak Moscow coach Massimo Carrera worked under Antonio Conte with Juventus and Italy. IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images

Spartak, reigning champions of the Russian Premier League, have won just three of their opening 11 league matches this season and find themselves in eighth place.

"We are still a family despite everything we've recently faced," Carrera said. "Even husbands and wives have problems, sometimes they even get divorced. It's normal. But we are still united and we are still trying to find a way out of the problems we've been experiencing."

Meanwhile, at his news conference in Moscow on Monday evening, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was quizzed about whether he had sought advice from anybody ahead of Tuesday's group-stage encounter.

Klopp replied that he had not spoken to anybody ahead of the game, and pointed out that he is unbeaten against Conte's Chelsea during his time at Anfield.

"We won against Chelsea, by the way. So he probably couldn't say a lot!" Klopp said. "OK, they were champions, but we won against them. No, I don't have any former colleagues which I could ask. I have to do my own work."