Q&AArne Slot's pre-Bayer Leverkusen press conference: 'It's a big European tie'

The Reds head coach sat down to discuss the league-phase fixture by answering reporters' questions at Anfield, with the contest set for an 8pm GMT kick-off in L4 on Tuesday night.

Read what Slot had to say in the media briefing below...

• Team news: Ibrahima Konate available for Bayer Leverkusen clash

On viewing the game as a 'really big European tie'...

Like you see it, it is a big European tie, which is almost always the situation if you play Champions League, even in the new format. Although there might be maybe one, or two, or three teams that are not as known as all the other teams that are in the competition. But definitely for all the reasons... but maybe mainly because of what Xabi Alonso did for this club, especially in Europe as well, but maybe more because of how he manages Leverkusen, how strong they are domestically and in Europe last season. They were incredible, of course. This season, in my opinion, they are still the same - just as good, but a bit more unlucky when it comes to results. [It's] a game to look forward to for many people who love this game.

On Mohamed Salah's social media post after the win over Brighton & Hove Albion saying that he will 'never forget what scoring at Anfield feels like'...

You interpreted in a way [that] maybe other people don't. I don't look at the Instagram posts of my players. I only talk to them, which you can't, so that is the advantage I have... Mo is in a very good place at the moment. As long as he has been here at Liverpool he has been in a very good place but this season again as well. I am hoping he will post one after tomorrow [against Leverkusen] and on Saturday again [against Aston Villa] and what he says with that for me is not important. The only thing that is important for me is how he plays and what he tells me when we have conversations and that's what matters and not how you guys interpret one of his posts.

On whether he thinks it was a reference to his future being away from Liverpool...

Then I should have spoken to him about what he said if that was a reference - or yes, or no. But I haven't spoken about him, we've spoken about Leverkusen because that team deserves all of our attention for the quality they have. So, no. He is out of contract in the end of the season and Virgil [van Dijk] said something in the press and now he [Salah] has a post that you interpreted in a certain way. This will probably continue for as long as their futures are not clear yet. But in the meantime, let's hope that they bring in performances like Mo had and Virgil had as well during the weekend.

On how important Liverpool's play out of possession will be against Leverkusen...

Very important because football is played in two moments: either you have the ball or you don't. And if you play against strong teams, which Leverkusen is one of them, Liverpool as well also though, you need to be good in both sides. Unfortunately, we were poor in the first half [against Brighton] on both hands. We were poor with the ball - not poor, we were not as good with the ball, and we were quite poor without the ball against Brighton, which is a team that can play out from the back really good as well. That shows us that we need a performance like the second half because Leverkusen, in my opinion, before we play them is at least equal to Brighton when they have the ball. So, we need a much better performance than the first half and we need an equal performance like the second half.

On the crowd helping Liverpool's 'intensity' against Brighton...

I think what the crowd wants is what I want and what our players want - we want to have control of the game, we want to be very aggressive without the ball. Maybe if we are not as aggressive then we are sometimes a bit too high. We still want to try, but if you're just too late or a fraction too late or open a certain lane, then they can play through you. The good thing is I always see my players running back really hard to prevent the other team from getting a chance. Although I felt - and I think we all felt this - that Brighton were the better team in the first half, it wasn't like they had three or four open chances from open play.

I think if you look back at it, we got the biggest chance in the first half with Darwin Nunez, so that also shows me that even if they play through our first press we are still able not to concede that many chances. But ideally, it is not only preventing them from playing through your press, but by having a very good press you can also create your chances. It's probably something you know really well here at Liverpool! That is also the reason we want to press that high, but then against good teams like Chelsea, like Brighton and like Leverkusen you cannot have one per cent less than, for example, the second-half intensity we had.

On how long Salah can remain at the top level of football...

There is no reason at the moment to think he is dropping in terms of level. That's not what [you see] when you look at his numbers and also that's not what you see when you see him play. I don't know how to say this in English but I cannot tell you how the future will look like. Cristiano Ronaldo, what age is he at the moment? He is still doing really well. [Lionel] Messi is still incredible. In-cred-ib-le. But there are also players like me who were not so good anymore when they were 33 - not that I was so good when I was 26, but I regressed a bit earlier than Ronaldo and Messi! I don't know what the future will bring but what I do know is Mo is in a very good place at the moment.

On what makes Xabi Alonso 'special' as a coach...

That is difficult to say if you don't work with him on a daily basis. He is special, that's clear. If you go to a club who were bottom of the league and with the same players you bring them all the way up without spending that much money that summer, only bringing in one or two very good players - and he had a season where I think they only lost the final of the Europa League - it tells you he is special. What it is that makes him special is, for me, difficult to say because I haven't faced him yet and I haven't worked with him.

What might be the situation is he has worked with very good managers in the past, he was a player with an incredible insight into the game, he knew when to be where, and he played at the highest levels, so he also probably knows and understands how these players feel in certain moments. That probably all contributes to why he is such a good manager. What makes him exactly so special, the best way to find that out is to talk to the players he worked with - and I haven't done that yet.

• Caoimhin Kelleher on Liverpool's 'fire in the belly', UCL nights and Alonso memories

On the new Champions League league-phase format...

That is obviously different. Normally you play an away or a home leg and then you can prepare even better for the second time you play against them. Now, you every time play against a new opponent. Every pot has some very strong teams and some pots have maybe not the same strength, so you can be a bit lucky with the draw or you can be a bit unlucky - then it has to do with which teams do you face at home and which ones do you face away from home?

The first thing I would say is maybe there is a bit more luck coming into ending up higher or lower [in the table], [but] on the other hand, if you play eight games instead of six, normally when you play more games luck ends up somewhere in the middle. What I always said until now, ask me after eight games or after this season. It is a better way to judge this format than at the moment. The only thing I like as a person who loves football is that on every evening I can switch to a game that is a really nice one to watch, but that is not what I am here for at the moment! On Wednesday evening, I will definitely find a game that I am looking forward to - and hopefully the people look forward to Liverpool-Leverkusen tomorrow and we don't let them down.