By Elsa Wiedfeld and Liam Fletcher
Liverpool manager Arne Slot praised an “almost perfect” team and fan performance after his side dominated Galatasaray in a 4-0 rout in the UEFA Champions League last-16 at Anfield tonight.
The 4-1 aggregate win gives Liverpool the chance to avenge last season’s early exit against defending champions Paris Saint Germain in the quarter-finals next month.
Slot credited the atmosphere at Anfield for spurring his players on to overturn the 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Istanbul last week, despite the visitors’ attempts to break momentum in the early moments of the game.
Slot said: “They tried to create a situation where the energy would run out of the stadium by making sure there was not much playing time.
“Our fans reacted great to that and our players kept on going, so a great dynamic between fans and players and almost the perfect game from us, and definitely from our fans.”
The Dutchman added: “From the first time they tried to kill the momentum, our fans raised their voices even more and I think that combination was very important tonight.
“That’s why I was maybe a bit more energetic than I usually am because we have to fight this together what we saw tonight.”
Trademark Salah but injury scare
Mohammed Salah became the first African to score 50 goals in the Champions League with his 62nd minute “trademark” curler to put Liverpool 4-0 ahead.
This followed his first half added-time penalty miss. Slot was proud of his and his team’s reaction, saying: “Mo and the team came out in the second half the way they did.
“That tells you about the mental strength of him, but definitely also of the team because adversity is something we can talk about when it comes to this season.”
The Egyptian was however subbed in the 74th minute after asking to come off. Slot said he “felt something”, which will definitely be a concern for Liverpool going forward.
About tonight’s performance
Slot was entirely satisfed with his team’s display tonight in the wake of recent criticism, after being booed off the pitch following Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.
“From start to finish, I think we played the game I was hoping for, the players were hoping for and the fans were hoping for.”
He is hoping it will set the tone for the rest of the season, but admits that it is not realistic to maintain such standard and intensity in each game.
“We have to try to find the consistency, although I can already disappoint people: this performance is impossible to copy one more time.”
Scheduling worries
Slot put this partly on the hectic schedule, as his side only get two days of rest before they head to Brighton for Saturday’s lunch-time kick-off.
He said: “We would like us to perform every single time at this level. Unfortunately, for the fifth, sixth time now, I think that we only get two days’ rest.
“You see more and more players get injured in this period of time because it’s such a tight schedule. We should have [been] given a bit more rest but that hasn’t happened a lot to us this season.”
It is not the first time Slot has criticised the heavy schedule and lack of recovery time as Liverpool has faced several injury-crises thorughout the season.
It has caused tactical issues for Slot, forcing to have to constantly adapt and reshape his team to cover the injury losses.
“This has been our season that every time when we think we find the system or we think we find the right style of play then someone gets injured and then we don’t have the similar fit, so we have to adapt and change again.”
These issues were raised further tonight with Joe Gomez being unable to play despite sitting on the bench, sidelined by an injury.
Ahead of Paris
Ahead of the quarter-finals against Paris, Slot looked back onto last year’s encounter, a tie which he described as “the best game [he has] managed in [his] career – maybe not in the result, but how football should be played.”
While Slot admitted that Liverpool’s level has dropped off compared to last season, he recognised PSG’s quality still persists as they attempt to defend their title.
The Liveprool Manager said: “We were the only team that brought them to extra-time, the only team that brought them to penalties, but that team has shown this season that they haven’t dropped a level.
“We showed tonight that we can still perform at the level we were performing [at] for large parts of last season, so it gives me, us, a lot of confidence that we have this performance.”
The Reds are back in action early on Saturday as they take on Brighton at the AMEX Stadium to attempt to amend their recent poor Premier League showings.
Liverpool currently sit in fifth in the Premier League table, two points below Aston Villa in the final Champions League position.
Watch the press conference in full here:
(Featured image by James Chettle)
