Arne Slot Brings Liverpool To End The Curse

Arne Slot surpassed Jurgen Klopp's achievements in the record of the meeting against Real Madrid (Instagram/@liverpoolfc).

JAKARTA - Arne Slot celebrated Liverpool's victory at Real Madrid 2-0 in the Champions League on Thursday, November 28, 2024, early morning WIB.

The victory not only means three points for the Reds, but also marks the end of the curse when they meet Los Blancos.

The Spanish giant has been Liverpool's "disturbing" during the last decade when they met in the Champions League.

In the previous eight meetings, aka since 2014, Liverpool have never won. Seven of them even resulted in defeat.

Meanwhile, two of the defeats occurred in the Champions League finals, namely the 2017/2018 and 2021/2022 seasons, which thwarted Liverpool from lifting the Big Ear trophy.

Then, as many as the previous six new duels, Liverpool are still being handled by Jurgen Klopp. The German manager really couldn't win against Real Madrid throughout his career at Anfield.

This means that Slot managed to surpass his predecessor and at the same time stop the poor encounter record against Real Madrid.

"You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League many times (15 times)."

"They have also troubled Liverpool over the years. It's been a big and fun week to see it."

"I think it's always fun to win games and especially big games like this. You know you're facing so many quality players," said Arne Slot after the game.

So happy, the Dutch manager hopes to meet again with Real Madrid in the knockout stages.

According to him, victory in the knockout phase will confirm that Liverpool deserves no inferiority in front of Los Blancos.

"However, this is a very strange and different arrangement in the Champions League. It is difficult to assess how important this victory is."

"If we meet them (Madrid) in the round of 16 and then we are able to beat them, it will be a bigger statement," said Slot.

Meanwhile, Liverpool achieved a perfect record in five Champions League matches that have been played.

The current points lead them to lead the standings while ensuring their place into the knockout stages.

However, Arne Slot was reluctant to be complacent. According to him, it is still too early to say the Reds have performed optimally.

The most important thing is that the system brought by the Dutch coach has gone well.

"I don't have a target in terms of the number of points I want. Most importantly, you want to implement your style of play as soon as possible."

"It's not difficult because it's not much different (play style) with Jurgen Klopp. It's nice to see not only the core players, but also the players who will play as expected."

"Before this season I counted points, I wouldn't do as much as we do now," said Arne Slot again.

Liverpool won the match by contributing goals to Alexis Mac Allister (52') and Cody Gakpo (76').

In fact, the match was hot and full of drama even though Liverpool dominated. Two penalties failed.

Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty in the 61st minute when Real Madrid were 0-1 down.

Then, Mohamed Salah's 12th kick in the 70th minute went wide and canceled keeping the lead at that time.