In the pre-match press conference on Monday ahead of the Champions League match, Liverpool manager Slot stated that although the team managed to turn the game around and win in Saturday’s Premier League match, they must improve their performance both in possession and out of possession when facing Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
Slot said, “There are two states in football: in possession and out of possession. When facing a strong team like Bayer Leverkusen, you must excel in both aspects. On Saturday against Brighton, we performed poorly both in possession and out of possession, so we need to perform like we did in the second half. Leverkusen’s ball control is at least on par with Brighton, so we need a better performance than in the first half.”
Salah scored the winning goal in last Saturday’s match and posted on a platform the next day: “No matter what happens, I will never forget the feeling of scoring at Anfield.” Some fans interpreted this as a hint that Salah might leave the club this summer, with the 32-year-old player’s contract set to expire at the end of this season.
Despite Salah’s uncertain future, Slot commented, “Your interpretation of this post may differ from others. I don’t look at players’ social media; I only communicate with them face-to-face, which is my advantage. Currently, he is in excellent form and has been performing well since he joined Liverpool. I hope he can score again tomorrow and on Saturday. What matters is his performance and what he says, not how you interpret his post.”
“I haven’t talked to him about it; we’ve been discussing Leverkusen because they are a strong team that deserves our full effort. His contract will expire at the end of the season, but during this period, we hope he can continue to perform as he did over the weekend and in the previous weeks.”
At 32 years old, Salah is in great form under Slot, while he struggled last season under Klopp, even having multiple public disputes. Slot said, “There’s no reason to think his level will decline. The data and his performance in matches do not suggest that. I can’t predict what the future holds. How old is Ronaldo now? Messi is still incredible… incredibly incredible. But there are also players like me who couldn’t keep up at 33, and I wasn’t particularly good even at 26! But I declined more than Ronaldo and Messi. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that Salah is currently in excellent form.”
In this match, Alonso will return to Anfield for the first time as a coach to face his former club. Slot commented, “If you don’t work with him, it’s hard to say what makes him a special head coach, but he is indeed special, and that’s very clear. When he took over the team, they were at the bottom of the table, with little investment and only one or two new signings, yet they achieved such results—this is really special.”
