Fans were back behind the team and Arne Slot credited them for the win
Arne Slot says Liverpool fans provided the “perfect” atmosphere that pushed his side to defeat Galatasaray 4-0 on Wednesday and reach the Champions League last eight.
Liverpool went into the tie needing a win after losing 1-0 to the Turkish side in a limp performance in Istanbul last week. Then the loss to Galatasaray was followed by a poor 1-1 draw to relegation-threatened Tottenham at the weekend, putting their hopes of finishing in the Champions League spots this season in further peril.
Some Liverpool supporters left Anfield early last weekend while those who remained booed their team at the final whistle.
But then fans were back on their side on Wednesday as Dominik Szoboszlai scored with less than half an hour played to put his team in control. Slot said Galatarasay’s gameplan was to disrupt the rhythm of the game and defend their 1-0 lead, but that his side stayed focused and were lifted by the energy in the stadium after supporters backed their team once more.
“From the start they were not accepting what we thought would happen and what happened, which is that they would create a situation where the energy would run out of the stadium by making sure there was not much playing time,” Slot said
“Our fans reacted great to that and our players kept on going. There was a great dynamic between fans and players and almost the perfect game from us and definitely from our fans.”
A major talking point was the performance of Mohamed Salah, who responded strongly after missing a first-half penalty by reaching a historic milestone with a goal to cap the win in the second half. The Egyptian forward became the first African player to score 50 goals in the Champions League.
“It says a lot about him that after you miss a penalty just before halftime, that can sometimes be hard for an individual or for a team, so compliments for the team for how we came out in the second half,” Slot said.
“Because we have had a lot of setbacks this season, a lot of first halves or second halves where we have created chance after chance after chance without doing justice to how we have performed – so not scoring.
“And then Mo and the team came out in the second half the way they did, so he assisted Hugo, a great assist and then scored a trademark goal that he has scored so many times in this stadium and for this club, cutting inside, finding the corner.
“So that tells you a lot about his mental strength but definitely also of the team, because adversity is something we can definitely talk about in this season.”
After Salah was substituted in the 74th minute for Cody Gakpo, the home crowd rose to give him a standing ovation. Slot said the decision to take him off was precautionary.
“Injury-wise, he came off not because he had scored enough but because he felt something,” Slot said. “So let’s see where he is for the weekend and afterwards.”
