Arne Slot: Liverpool Must Win The Champions League To Be The Best In Europe

Liverpool will make PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League (Instagram/@liverpoolfc).

JAKARTA - Liverpool manager Arne Slot said his team needed to win the Champions League to be considered the best in Europe.

The Reds are currently 13 points ahead at the top of the Premier League and are at the top of the Champions League group stage standings.

They qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League and were already scheduled to meet PSG. This achievement made PSG manager Luis Enrique describe Liverpool as the best team in the Blue Continent.

However, Arne Slot is reluctant to sink in praise. He needs his students to prove themselves as the best in Europe by winning the Champions League.

"It's a great compliment, but the best team in Europe has to win the Champions League. We're still far from that, starting with a very tough game tomorrow (against PSG)."

"Then all the games that will come are difficult because we have seen the draw results. I think the best team in Europe is currently still Real Madrid because they won this tournament last season."

"Other people can say something different, but for us, we have to win it first before we can say it," Arne Slot told his pre-match press conference.

Arne Slot's humility was to maintain the motivation of his troops because he realized he had to meet one of PSG's strong teams.

"We can only (face-to-face) two (teams), namely Benfica or PSG. Even though I really like Benfica, everyone who has watched football in recent months can tell you that maybe we'd rather play against Benfica than PSG."

"However, this is also a great game to play. It's a great stadium to play in."

"If you play at Liverpool, you want to play in a big game. This is definitely a big game for us."

"We have to accept the draw and both teams face very strong opponents. They are quite intense in terms of pressing."

"I think if there's one thing people will tell us about us, it's that we're also quite intense."

"Maybe we don't always play one on one on the other across the pitch like PSG, but we like to press aggressively. It's very difficult to judge before the game."

"Tomorrow, we have to see if they are above us. If so, we have to suffer as we did against (Manchester) City."

"Hopefully we can control the ball very well. We can play the same style we did in all other matches, apart from the game against Manchester City, we dominated the ball," said Arne Slot.

Semetnara itu, Liverpool harus menunggu untuk melihat apakah penyerang Cody Gakpo fit agar bisa tampil pada Kamis, 6 Maret 2025, dini hari WIB, setelah ia mengalami cedera saat latihan awal minggu ini.

The Dutchman returned to action as a substitute in a win over Manchester City last month after battling an ankle injury.

"He's almost ready to play again. But yesterday unfortunately he had to block a shot. He felt a little more pain."

"We brought him together to assess whether he could be part of the squad, but the decision would be very strict," said Slot.

Liverpool will face PSG in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 at the Parc des Princes, before hosting the second leg at Anfield next week.