NewsArne Slot's pre-AC Milan press conference: 'It's a big game – one to look forward to'

The Reds head coach sat down with reporters at San Siro shortly after arriving in Italy ahead of the contest against their Serie A hosts, which is set for an 8pm BST kick-off on Tuesday night.

Read every word the boss had to say in the media briefing below…

• Liverpool confirm 23-man travelling squad for AC Milan clash

On his first game in charge of Liverpool in the Champions League coming on his birthday...

I think it is the first time that my birthday is not so important tomorrow! It's a big game also for me, but it's a big game for us too because it's the first game [of the Champions League] and it's the next game and the next game is always the most important one, as you know. But because of the history that these two teams have and the venue where it's played in - it's one to look forward to.

On Dominik Szoboszlai nearing 50 Liverpool appearances and his role in the team...

I think all of the squad players I have, they have an important role. He has played all four of them [games] now and every player feels more important when he plays than when he is not playing. But every squad member has his role and during a season all of them will play a lot because we play a lot of games. He's been important for us, especially until now in our work when we don't have the ball - he has been outstanding in his pressing game. I think something I have to work on with him is that he is also even more involved in scoring goals and creating chances for us because I think last season he scored three [in the league] if I remember correctly.

For an attacking midfielder at Liverpool his numbers need to go up, but I am really happy with the way he has done until now. I am 100 per cent sure that if he plays in a team with so much quality around him and with the quality he has that he will in the end score more goals as well.

On facing AC Milan and whether there is anything to be 'scared' of...

I don't know if the translation is correct but the word 'scared' was used, if I was scared for some players, or for us in Milan. I don't think any manager or any team is scared to play the other team but we have a lot of respect for the quality and the players and the history of Milan. The first one that comes to my mind is a Dutch player - Tijjani Reijnders - who has done really well over here and also for the Dutch national team last week. So, they have quality players. We're not scared but we do respect all of their players because they have shown last Saturday that they are in good form. They had a very good 4-0 win. So, we respect Milan a lot, but 'scared' is not the word we would use.

On how great the 'disappointment' of the defeat by Nottingham Forest has been...

Not only the journalists were disappointed about the result from us against Nottingham Forest. The team and me were really disappointed as well. Although we always put it in the right perspective. When we beat [Manchester] United the journalists and us were really positive, of course, but I also saw things we had to improve. Last Saturday we didn't do as many things as we did against United, but there were still a few things that went quite well.

But it was a totally different game and that's also for tomorrow I expect a completely different game against Milan with the type of players they have and the playing style that manager has compared to Nottingham Forest. But we should be disappointed if you lose a home game against Nottingham Forest and you work for Liverpool. If you are not if you drop points in a home game against Nottingham Forest then something is wrong. Four games, nine points, it's a good start, but it's not a great start because then we would've had 12.

On the new Champions League format and how many points may be required to qualify...

I think it is difficult for me to tell you now how many points are needed because it's the first time we play this competition and it's eight games. I've been in Europe for a few years with my former clubs and sometimes we went through to the next round, I think one time with six or seven points and we ended up number one in the group. It's difficult to say before you start, but I think it's clear if you want to end up in the first eight you have to win a lot of games and you need a lot of points. What I think about the format, that's also something you can ask me better in the end.

The only thing I like about it is just as someone who loves to see football every night on television is that every night there is a nice fixture. In the former format sometimes there were evenings where you were like, 'OK, tomorrow is a nicer game than today'. But now, for example with our game tomorrow, I think everybody who loves football is looking forward to that game. That is the positive for the person that sits at home in front of his television. How is it going to be for the players with two extra games? How is it going to be excited in the end of the group stages as well? That's something that we have to find out. I don't think anyone has the answer to that at the moment. But if you ask me this question in a few months I can answer it probably much better than I can answer it now.

• Training photos: Liverpool prepare for Champions League trip to Milan

On whether he will look to rotate the team more following the weekend defeat...

If rotation would be the reason why we don't win a game then probably it wouldn't be the first game I lost in 2024 last Saturday, because indeed we didn't rotate a lot [at Feyenoord]. For me, but everybody can have their own opinion, it is too simple to put this loss on rotation because I think too many players didn't reach their normal level, that was not only the ones that started but also the ones that came in. For me, it had a lot to do with the playing style of the opponent, who made it really difficult for us, but in the end if you don't win then you try to look at as many arguments as you can find - and I also asked myself the question, 'OK, does it have to do with the things you said?' But I prefer to look at the game back and see what we did well, what we didn't do well and I think we could have done a lot of things much better that was not related to rotation.

We will never know, if I would have rotated three or four new players in, if we would have won then. This is going to be a long answer! I think it was the day before, [in the] press conference, somebody said to me, 10 of your players had started for their national teams, so which ones were completely rested then? Now I can do something about the rotation in the upcoming games because they are all with me, but before that were with the national teams - and almost all of them played two times 90 minutes. I think they were prepared for that, we tried to prepare them for that and, for me, this loss didn't have to do with rotation, more to do with the opponent and too many players not bringing what they can bring.

On why he wanted Federico Chiesa and if he will be on the bench tomorrow night...

I always like to bring in quality players - and we believe, and I think, he is a quality player who combines quality with an enormous work-rate and the culture of this club and the culture of this team is working really hard when we don't have the ball. I think he brings this to his game in combination with scoring goals, in combination with playing in several positions up front. He is, for the first time, in our team selection. And since I said it's the first time he's in our team selection, it would be a big surprise for him and for everyone if he would start tomorrow, so I don't think you should expect that he starts but he can make a few minutes for the first time tomorrow if we need him. That is something we will see tomorrow.

For the first time with us and don't expect him to be there in the starting line-up because he has been with Juve training on his own for a long time, now with us for a few weeks, had some training time. It is too early for him to play 90 but hopefully he can make his first minutes in the upcoming fixtures.

On the threat of Rafael Leao and whether he is 'already a top player'...

He is a top player because people who always talk about the top players, they don't talk about the players that are underneath. We know his quality, we have studied the Milan team, of course, and one of the ones who catches your eye is definitely Rafael Leao. How do we try to stop him being at his best, that is always a team performance thing. We need to defend as a team really well to stop the likes of Rafael Leao, but they have more quality in the team and more special players than only Rafael Leao. He is definitely one of their top players, in my opinion.

On if Alexis Mac Allister would be 'included in the rotation mentioned before'...

I have only important players, so all 23 I have brought to Milan are very important to me and to the club. I think you saw I took him off after 60 minutes, or somewhere around 60 minutes, against Nottingham Forest. That also had to do with him not playing the full 90 minutes with the national team, being out for a few days with an injury, so that had a bit to do with rotation. I think he is able to play tomorrow again, 60 or 90 minutes, and we will see the decision I will make tomorrow. But he is definitely, like the other 22, an important player for us.