Arne Slot lauded Liverpool’s mentality after they scored one more late winner to assert a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid within the Champions League at Anfield.
The Premier League champions let slip a two-goal lead after efforts from Andy Robertson and Mo Salah had been cancelled out by Marcos Llorente’s double earlier than Virgil van Dijk headed residence within the second minute of added time.
Liverpool have already made a behavior of scoring late winners this season, most not too long ago beating Burnley 1-0 within the Premier League because of Salah’s Ninety fifth-minute penalty.
“If you want to beat a team like Atletico, which is known and has an unbelievable mentality, you have to beat them with their own weapon as well and that is mentality,” Slot instructed TNT Sports activities.
“I think that’s what we showed again today, that we can beat them also by mentality. But I think we should have made it easier for ourselves.”
Slot: Positively shocked by Isak
Slot handed British document £125m signing Alexander Isak his first Liverpool look by together with him in his beginning line-up and was delighted with the Swede’s contribution.
The Dutchman, who celebrated victory on his forty seventh birthday, stated: “Notably as a result of I feel within the 60 minutes he performed, he appeared to be fairly match to me so it wasn’t as if, after 10 minutes, he was already very drained.
“He could just play at this level quite well so that was the most positive thing and that he can play football and that he’s a joy to watch.
“That’s not a shock to me however he was perhaps fitter than I anticipated.
“I was positively surprised by how fit he was. I was not surprised by the quality but it is always nice to see when a player starts how he started. It was a good start but only 60 minutes.
Slot was not sure whether or not Isak will begin once more on Saturday at Anfield towards Merseyside rivals Everton.
He added: “You can tell David [Moyes] he is not going to play 90 minutes [against Everton].”
“I’m really happy he could start today. That’s why we didn’t play him against Burnley. He was good today and when Hugo (Ekitike) came in, he was a big factor also.
“We’ve two nice quantity nines and we’ll use them, each of them, all through the entire interval they’re right here.
Robertson: We have to make it simpler
In the meantime, Robertson, credited with the opener after Salah’s fourth-minute free-kick deflected in off the defender, additionally felt his facet’s win ought to have been extra comfy.
He instructed TNT Sports activities: “I think we need to maybe get back to winning a bit simpler and a bit easier.
“Obviously it’s a great thing to have been able to keep going right to the end but when you’re 2-0 up and you’re playing so well in the first half, it should have been a more comfortable night.”
On Isak’s long-awaited debut, Robertson added: “I thought he was excellent. He’s not really had a pre season, not had a lot of games since last season, but I thought, especially the first half, he was excellent.
“Naturally he got tired and then it’s amazing to have a player like Hugo to come on and both of them have got such quality.”
Carragher: Van Dijk to go down as Liverpool nice
Jamie Carragher says Van Dijk ought to be remembered as certainly one of Liverpool’s biggest ever gamers – not simply certainly one of their biggest centre-backs after he scored the Reds’ stoppage-time winner towards Atletico.
“I don’t like describing Van Dijk as the best centre back. At Liverpool, a lot of people get called legends because they’ve won the league or the Champions League,” Carragher instructed CBS.
“There are lots of them. But if you want to differentiate, and I call them giants of the club like Gerrard, Dalglish, Hansen, Barnes, Souness and Salah, the top seven or eight players at Liverpool, he is right in the middle of that.
“He is not on the backside of the checklist I can guarantee you. He’ll go down as one of many biggest gamers to ever play for Liverpool. Not one of many biggest centre backs, one of many biggest gamers.”