Arne Slot told his Liverpool players they must be proud after achieving the “almost impossible” feat of setting new club records with Wednesday’s 1-0 Champions League win away to RB Leipzig.
Darwin Nunez’s 27th-minute goal was enough to win in Saxony, a victory that makes this Liverpool side the first to win their first six away games of a season, and the first to win 11 of their opening 12 matches in all.
Just a few months into Slot’s reign, Liverpool sit top of the Premier League with three wins from three in the Champions League.
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— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 23, 2024
“I think I said before that we should be proud because so many great teams have worn this shirt, so many great players have been at this club,” Slot said.
“To achieve something that was not achieved before is almost impossible at a big club like this.
“To achieve it is always nice but as I said about other records, records are nice but other things are nicer than records and you know what I mean by that – trophies.”
After Slot said his side were second best for large parts of Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea, Liverpool did not have things all their own way in Leipzig, and the hosts might have been 2-0 up inside the opening 25 minutes as big chances fell for Benjamin Sesko.
Lois Openda found the net in the 26th minute but was offside in doing so, and a minute later, Nunez had put Liverpool in front.
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— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 23, 2024
Even so, they needed another offside flag to deny Openda again late on after Caoimhin Kelleher had made big saves from Sesko and Xavi Simons.
“If you play a good team, a big team away, there are always moments in the game and they will have some moments as well,” Slot said.
“The way I looked at this game, for me we had a large part of the game total dominance as we did in all the games except for Chelsea. I’m not worried at all about this game.
“I was a bit more worried after the Chelsea game but this is what I like to see, the team play with much more possession, freeing up the midfield.”
Slot added: “Many, many times we played through their press and opened up their midfield and went for an attack that led to the first goal and there were more chances, more than a few.
The first time we''ve won our opening 6️⃣ games of the season ✊🔴 pic.twitter.com/C4nD8Lh199
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 23, 2024
“In the end it’s a pity that you still need your two centre-backs to play such a big game and your goalkeeper to make two big saves. A game like this should have been ours after 60 or 70 minutes and that’s why the last 20 minutes were so difficult for us.”
With the game still in the balance, Slot took off Mohamed Salah just after the hour mark and replaced him with Luis Diaz, a decision the Dutchman admitted was made with an eye on Sunday’s Premier League trip to Arsenal.
“We have some injuries, we have to take good care of the players,” Slot said. “The players have played a lot and Mo is one of them. Sunday is a big game coming up. I need to use as many players as I can for these tough months.”
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