Arne Slot celebrated Liverpool’s 2-0 Champions League win against Real Madrid by saying the Spanish giants had become a “pain in the a–” for the club after ending a 15-year winless run against the reigning European champions.
Second-half goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo — Kylian Mbappé and Mohamed Salah both failed to score from the penalty spot in the second half — sealed a the win for Liverpool that maintained their 100% winning start to the Champions League and moved Slot’s side two points clear of second-placed Inter Milan.
With Liverpool failing to beat Madrid in their last six meetings, including Champions League finals in 2018 and 2022, Slot said it was important to finally beat the 15-time Champions League winners.
“You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times,” Slot said. “They were a pain in the a– for Liverpool for many years too. It is a big week and it is pleasing to see.
“I think it is always good to win a game and especially a big game like this, you know you face so many quality players.
“But this is such a strange and different set up in the Champions League and it is difficult to judge how important these wins are.
“If we meet them [Madrid] in the last 16 and then we are able to beat them it would be a bigger statement.”
Despite now having a five-point cushion in the top eight, which will guarantee a place in the round of 16, Slot said it is too soon to know whether Liverpool have done enough to seal qualification.
“I didn’t have schedule in terms of amount of points I wanted,” he said. “You want to implement the playing style as soon as possible. That is not difficult because it wasn’t that different to Jürgen’s [Klopp, his predecessor]. It is great to see not only the starters but the players coming on are doing as we expect.
“If before the season I had counted points for this point in the season I wouldn’t have done as much as we have now.”
Liverpool face Manchester City in a crucial Premier League clash at Anfield on Sunday with Slot saying it is “too soon” to assess the extent of injuries to Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konaté.
And the Liverpool manager said he will be backed by his family for the City clash after a visit from the Netherlands following his summer arrival from Feyenoord. “They took a few days off school to be here,” Slot said. “They will here for Man City but it will not influence the game!
“To have family around, it is always a good thing, because you don’t have to be focused for 24 hours … 18 hours maybe!”