Arne Slot sends clear ‘respect’ message to Liverpool players ahead of AC Milan test

Liverpool open their Champions League campaign at the San Siro against AC Milan on Tuesday night and will be aiming to bounce back from their shock defeat against Nottingham Forest

Arne Slot insists he will not celebrate his birthday for the first time in his life.

Slot turns 46 on Tuesday on what will also be one of the proudest days of his career as he leads the six-time European champions into a huge showdown with AC Milan in the San Siro. Liverpool boss Slot puts that above any thought of birthday celebrations because it will be a major test for his European ambitions this season.

‌This is why Slot came to Anfield, but he will need to make it a better Italian Job this time, having had unhappy trips with previous club Feyenoord in the past. Slot lost at Lazio and Roma two seasons ago in the Europa League and his only previous adventure in the Champions League saw them lose to Lazio in Rome.

Feyenoord also went down 4- 2 on penalties to Roma in the Eternal City in the Europa League play-offs and they lost the 2022 Europa Conference League final to Roma. But Slot insists that he is not worried about such a huge game so early in his tenure and laughed off a question as to whether he would be scared about facing Milan.

Slot said: “I think it is the first time my birthday is not important for tomorrow, it’s a big game for me and because of the history these two teams have, the venue, it’s one to look forward to. I don’t think any manager is scared to play the other team but we have a lot of respect for AC Milan. They have quality, we’re not scared but we respect all their players.

“They have shown they are in good form with a very good 4-0 win [against Venezia on Saturday]. Scared is not the word we would use. We respect [them] a lot.”

Slot has enjoyed what he called a “good start rather than a great start” after winning three of his first four Premier League games with their only setback coming against Nottingham Forest as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Anfield.

‌That came amid criticism for him not rotating his team more – his only change in the four starting line-ups this season was to bring in Ibrahima Konate and Jarrell Quansah after the first game at Ipswich – ahead of such a punishing schedule.

Slot was renowned in Holland for rarely changing his line-ups, but he dismissed rotation as the reason for their first defeat of the season. “Everyone can have their own opinion but it is too simple to put it down to rotation, but too many players not at their best level,” said Slot. “If you drop home points in a game against Nottingham Forest then something is wrong.

“Forest made it difficult for us and when you don’t win you look at as many arguments as you can. I prefer to see the game back and what we didn’t do well and some of it was not related to rotation. We will never know if we would have won if [I] rotated.”

Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker, a former Champions League winner, also insisted that being out of the competition last season will only make them hungrier to succeed this time. Alisson added: “Imagine something that you really like to do, and you stay without doing it for one year, how looking forward to it you would be to do it again. That’s the way we feel. Playing the Champions League was one of the reasons that I came here to Europe from Brazil.

“Not being able to play last season was really hard. But here we are again after a really good season qualifying in a really difficult league. We are looking forward to it. Tomorrow is a big chance to prove again and to go back to the good start we had in the season.

“Unfortunately the last match, we were far, far away from what we can do on the pitch. We know that. But football is quick and we have to be really focused for tomorrow night. We have to be ready.”

Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo, Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Nunez

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