Slot on Liverpool's last gasp 3-2 Athletico win

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Slot on Liverpool's last gasp 3-2 Athletico win  17/09/2025  Anfield, Liverpool, UK

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00:00The second year in a row that I had to celebrate my birthday on a Champions League night

00:05and the second time in a row that the players gave me a nice present because we won them both.

00:12But I would like to ask the UEFA if next year I can celebrate my birthday with my friends and family.

00:19But yeah, another great night here at Anfield.

00:23I think this is where the format is about.

00:26This is what the UEFA probably wanted, to have already the first game in the group stage

00:32that could have been a quarter-final, semi-final, last 16-game.

00:36And that's also what you saw today, us playing really well,

00:41getting a lot of chances to finish the game off earlier, which we didn't,

00:44and then you face a mentality team like Atletico.

00:47And they always find a way to come back into the game, and that's what they did.

00:51The good thing for us is that we have the same mentality.

00:53It's five games in a row now you've got a winner after 80 minutes,

00:57six games that you've played this season, and ten different goal scorers.

01:01And so much good in the overall performance tonight as well.

01:04But what's occupying your thoughts more, that or the fact that the game nearly got away from you?

01:11Maybe at this moment of time, the last part.

01:14Although, I think, again, it was a great game to watch,

01:18not only for us as Liverpool fans, but for all the fans all around the world that love to watch football.

01:22And I think that's also part of our jobs, that people like what they see.

01:29That's what we are every time trying.

01:31But a game like this should not have gone to a late-game winner.

01:37Although, again, it's not easy to beat Atletico Madrid because of their mentality,

01:41but I can come up with numerous moments where we could have scored the third one, which we didn't.

01:47And that is maybe a bit different to the Burnley game or the Arsenal game or the Newcastle game,

01:52where we didn't create so many as we did tonight.

01:54And obviously, minutes for Alexander Isak, and it seemed the start, or the hint of a start,

02:00the understanding between him and Florian Wurtz as well.

02:02But how do you feel it went for Alexander overall, and given he played nearly an hour,

02:07what's the early thinking as to what he might be able to do on Saturday in the Merseyside Davies?

02:11Yeah, you had to ask that from David?

02:14Just to spy on the cup.

02:15Oh, OK.

02:17I was positively surprised by how fit he was during that 60 minutes,

02:22but that maybe probably tells you that it might be a difference to sign a 20-year-old from a different league,

02:30or a 20-year-old or a 25-26-year-old that's used to play in this league.

02:34Although he only trained for two weeks, he has so much games under his belt

02:38that he's probably more able to already be ready for 60.

02:42So I was positively surprised how fit he was.

02:45I wasn't surprised about his quality, because that's what we all know.

02:49You don't have to be a manager to recognize how much quality he has.

02:52But it's always nice to see if a player starts the way he starts,

02:57like Juko started, Kittike started the same as he did.

03:01So, yeah, good start.

03:04Only 60 minutes now, we have to build him up from here.

03:06But I can tell David, or you can go back to David and tell him

03:10that he's not going to play 90 on Saturday.

03:13Thanks, Arnold.

03:13You're welcome.

03:14Richard.

03:15Yeah, Richard.

03:17Mike, OK.

03:19Hi, Arnold.

03:23With the main goals, is there a part of you that thinks it can't go on like this,

03:30you can't carry on getting them every game?

03:32Or when it gets to 2-2, do you just find yourself thinking,

03:35we'll find a way to win this?

03:38No, you're never 100% sure.

03:39But what I do know is that we are so fit that we are able to push one more time.

03:45But I'm sure that we're not going to need every single game stoppage time.

03:51There will be games where we are 2-0 up after six minutes

03:55and we create so many chances afterwards that we will score the first

03:59and that we don't need stoppage time to make a late-game winner.

04:04And there will probably also be games where we need a goal in the last minutes

04:08and we don't.

04:08But what I can assure you, even if we don't score it,

04:11we will try to push for it.

04:12That is the mentality this team has.

04:14But it should not only be about mentality,

04:17it's also how fit we are,

04:20how well prepared we are throughout the last few weeks

04:24that they are able to push one more time.

04:27And then in the end, it's also about quality

04:29because the cross from Dominic Silvers-Ly and the way Virgil hats the ball in

04:32is not only to do with mentality or being fit,

04:35that is also having so much quality as we have.

04:39Mike?

04:41No?

04:42No, no, no.

04:45Go on the back.

04:49It's the second time.

04:51Hi, Arne.

04:52You speak about mentality and how in shape you guys are.

04:56Do you think these are qualities you can build on to get even better?

05:00Getting them better?

05:02Yeah, yeah, getting even better.

05:02No, I think one of the things you need to have

05:06if you want to compete for the Premier League and the Cups

05:10and the Champions League is mentality and fitness.

05:13But you also need quality.

05:15And I think that's also what we saw today.

05:17Maybe I'm even a bit disappointed that we scored in the last minute.

05:20I know it's going to be a great headline and it's going to be great to talk about late game winners,

05:24blah, blah, blah.

05:25But, yeah, I would have liked it more if we would have spoken about,

05:29Paul, did you see the few attacks we had before halftime?

05:34And Florian and Alex combined together, which led to almost Jeremy scoring second half,

05:39a great attack that started with Dominic, with Lowe, with Mo that ended up on the post.

05:43I can come up with so many great attacks we had today.

05:46But probably no one is talking about that.

05:48Everybody will talk again about the late game winner,

05:50which I understand because that's the story of this game

05:52and the story of the last five games.

05:55But for me it was a different game than the ones we've played before.

05:58So I saw many good things.

06:02But it's not for the first time that we give away a 2-0 lead as well,

06:05which was different to the one we gave away against Bournemouth

06:08because this had nothing to do with counter-attacks.

06:11But we did give away a 2-0 lead, which is not where we were known for last season.

06:15So, yes, there's a lot to improve, but there's a lot to like as well.

06:25Hello, coach.

06:26Congratulations for the victory.

06:28I want to ask you, before was Simeone talking about how the footballists fighting against racism?

06:36And he suggests also that they should fight against the insults to the coach

06:41because, as you know, if you don't know what I tell you,

06:45he received some insults from the people in the stands.

06:50So he tried to not fight back, but at least answer.

06:55So I want to ask you if you as coaches have to maintain calm or also want to suggest that maybe

07:03these insults from the stands should be punished or at least stop things.

07:10Yeah, it's difficult for me to react on because I don't know what happened exactly today.

07:17So he was closer to the situation than I was, so it's impossible for me to react on that.

07:23And if I react on that, I already know what the Spanish media is going to write.

07:26So I think they should write two teams with great mentality, fighting till the end.

07:32Atletico came back.

07:33We scored the 3-2.

07:34This is where I think the game should be about because it was a great game to watch.

07:39Another great game to watch from Liverpool and I think from Atletico as well

07:43because the way they played against Villarreal was also very nice.

07:46So let the headlines be about that and not about what happened after we scored the 3-2.

07:55Last one here.

08:00Arnie, could you please sum up Florian Wurz's performance?

08:03He seemed to be a little bit unlucky sometimes that he couldn't score a goal

08:06and how close he is to playing the full 90 minutes, please.

08:09Florian Wurz.

08:10Yeah, he was indeed a few times close to scoring a goal.

08:15He was also a few times close to assisting to a goal.

08:18I think he was the one that created most chances for us today.

08:21So I can see with him as well also that he's getting fitter and fitter

08:26and adjusting him more and more to us, which is normal.

08:30You need a bit of time to adjust.

08:33We all know how much quality he has,

08:35but sometimes people forget that he's a 22-year-old that goes for the first time abroad.

08:41And I'm 47 now because it's my birthday today,

08:43but last year I came when I was 46.

08:45And I know that was my first time that I started working abroad.

08:48The first two or three months, your whole life is changing.

08:52So all the things which are normal to you are not normal anymore

08:54because the roads here are differently.

08:57You drive on the other side, but apart from that, everything is different.

09:01And that sometimes costs energy as well.

09:03So combine that, go into a new club, new playing style,

09:06because at Liverpool they played 3-4-3, or the way you want to say it.

09:11We play 4-3-3, so we ask a bit more from him off the ball defensively maybe as well.

09:16But I can see him growing, growing, growing more and more and more.

09:20And I think that is what you can expect from a quality player.

09:23They always adjust to what he needs.

09:28And he and the team will get better and better,

09:30but I like his performance today already a lot.

09:38See you on Friday together.

09:39Yeah.

09:40See you.

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