Reaction'I liked a lot' - Arne Slot's press conference after Liverpool 2-0 Real Madrid
The Reds enhanced their perfect record in the league phase to five successive wins on Wednesday night, with goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo during the second half securing the victory.
It was a deserved result for Slot’s men from an enthralling fixture that also saw Caoimhin Kelleher save a penalty from Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah strike wide from 12 yards.
Read the head coach’s verdict on the encounter at his post-match press conference below…
On his assessment of Liverpool’s performance…
I liked a lot what I saw. Of course not everything. I think we controlled the first half with creating a few chances, but I also thought we were still a bit sloppy, so we lost the ball in very easy situations or we forced it a bit too much. I said, ‘Try to be even more patient, let the gaps open up instead of forcing them.’ Then it helps if, the first seven minutes after half-time I think we had total dominance, they even didn’t come across the halfway line. If you score a goal like this, then we were flying, if you want to put it like this.
On how he feels about beating Real and if it is a ‘statement’…
I think it’s always good to win a game, and especially a big game like this because you know you face so many quality players. For me, it would even mean more if we go into the later stages of the tournament because this is such a strange and different set-up in the Champions League that it’s difficult to judge how important these wins are. If we arrive in the last 16 or the quarter-finals or wherever we can arrive to and we face them again and then we are able to beat them, that would be maybe a bigger statement than this. But we are definitely happy with the win, let that be clear.
On Conor Bradley’s display…
I think it’s nice for him, nice for his family, nice for us but it’s also very nice for the Academy, that a player that comes through the ranks at the Academy does so well. And not only him – Caoimh was outstanding today, Curtis [Jones] was outstanding today. Probably all of them were outstanding but to have three Academy players in your team doing so well is also a big compliment for the Academy this club has. And Conor did very well. But I’m totally not surprised by him doing so well because he showed this already last season and showed this in this season in training sessions and in games as well. So, very nice for him.
On whether Kelleher’s form and Alisson Becker’s impending return gives him a ‘difficult decision’…
I think every decision I have to make is a difficult one, because we have so many quality players. I’ve been clear about that situation but tonight shouldn’t be about that, it should be about Caoimh being so important for us. It was a big moment for him also I think; if you see Mbappe behind the ball, I thought probably what everybody thought – and what everybody also thought when Mo stepped up – ‘This ball is probably going to go in’. And he saved it, so it was a big moment for him, a special moment for him. So, let that be the headlines and not the other thing I was quite clear about one or two weeks ago.
On the Reds’ improvement between the two halves being a theme of the season…
I think the effort we put in during the first half helps us to be as good as we are in the second half. If you play again at this level, it’s so difficult to outplay them already in the first half but you invest, you invest, you invest – you keep on running, keep being aggressive, keep trying to press them high. And then in the second half, it’s not only with us but you see more goals in the second half than the first half. That has all to do with the players also getting tired. We also invest in the first half to show up even in a better way in the second half.
The good thing about the second half is [that] before they go out [at kick-off], we always prepare them what to expect from what we have seen from them until now. But what we saw from them until now was with Vinicius [Jr.], now they lined up without Vinicius. So, after the first half we know better what to expect than we knew before the game. Maybe sometimes these small adjustments help us as well, but it has mainly to do with the effort we put in during the first half already.
On how he has ‘managed to transform’ the team and lead the Champions League…
I don’t think we transformed that much, we adjusted a bit. Maybe it’s your first time at Liverpool but I think the ones that are here for a long time, they are just almost used to playing a final or to be up there with all the great teams in Europe. This team has always been there. The last two years maybe have been a bit different than all these years before, but it was only maybe a few adjustments or playing different teams. But we are only five games in, in a new format, so we are happy where we are but we are not getting carried away by only winning in a group-stage game. This club wants more than only winning group-stage games.
On Ryan Gravenberch…
I agree with you he played a very good game, which was not that easy because he conceded a yellow card already quite early in the game. But he is so comfortable on the ball, and we like to have possession a lot and if you have possession a lot it’s always useful to have players that are so comfortable and dominant on the ball. And he brings, together with our last line, the ball towards the players that can hurt every opposition. That’s what makes him special, together with his running capacity – he just keeps on running. And he, like all the others, also profits from the team performance, because I’ve said it many times, the team performance makes the individual performance and not the opposite way around.