Arne Slot hails fans’ backing of ‘almost-perfect’ Liverpool

LIVERPOOL, England — Arne Slot has described Liverpool ‘s 4-0 win over Galatasaray as “almost the perfect game” and hailed the fans at Anfield for delivering a special atmosphere.

The Reds overturned a 1-0 first leg deficit in their round-of-16 tie with a dominant performance against the Turkish Super Lig champions, with goals from Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah securing their passage to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.

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It was a raucous atmosphere on Merseyside as Liverpool supporters rallied behind their team, despite having booed Slot and his players after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

“From start to finish, I think we played the game I was hoping for, the players were hoping for and I was hoping for,” Slot said. “Not only did we play the perfect game from start to finish but out fans did as well.

“From the start they were not accepting what we thought would happen and what happened which is that they would create a situation where the energy would run out of the stadium by making sure there was not much playing time.

“Our fans reacted great to that and our players kept on going. There was a great dynamic between fans and players and almost the perfect game from us and definitely from our fans.”

Slot also heaped praise on Salah, who bounced back from missing a penalty in the first half to score his 50th goal in the Champions League, becoming the first African player to achieve the feat.

“It says a lot about him that after you miss a penalty just before halftime, that can sometimes be hard for an individual or for a team, so compliments for the team for how we came out in the second half,” Slot said.

“Because we have had a lot of setbacks this season, a lot of first halves or second halves where we have created chance after chance after chance without doing justice to how we have performed — so not scoring.

“And then Mo and the team came out in the second half the way they did, so he assisted Hugo, a great assist and then scored a trademark goal that he has scored so many times in this stadium and for this club, cutting inside, finding the corner.

“So that tells you a lot about his mental strength but definitely also of the team, because adversity is something we can definitely talk about in this season.”

Salah was replaced by Cody Gakpo in the 74th minute, receiving a standing ovation from the fans at Anfield.

“Injury-wise, he came off not because he had scored enough but because he felt something,” Slot said. “So let’s see where he is for the weekend and afterwards.”