Arne Slot moved quickly to calm the noise around Mohamed Salah after Liverpool’s win over Inter Milan, addressing the confusion sparked by Clarence Seedorf’s recent comments.
Liverpool ran out 1-0 winners in the San Siro on Tuesday night, benefiting from a late penalty award amid another night of VAR controversy in the Champions League.
The Liverpool head coach used his post-match press conference to set the record straight and distance himself from the remarks.
Slot clarifies Seedorf comments on Salah situation
Slot addressed the clip involving Clarence Seedorf and moved immediately to correct the interpretation that had followed.
“No. I’m happy that you asked that question because Clarence said ‘in his opinion’ and I said, ‘Yes, that’s your own opinion.’ So, I didn’t say anything about that, who should make the first step or whatever. It was his opinion.”
He kept his comments to that single exchange and stated directly that he never addressed Salah’s role in the situation. Slot then redirected attention to the players involved in the win.
“Where I stand is that tonight it should all be about the players that are here. In the rich history Liverpool has, they have had many of these evenings but in the season we are in, I think if you have an away win in this stadium against such a strong team then it should be about the midfield or about Ibou or about the ones that are here. They deserve all the credits.”
He repeated that stance when asked again, pointing back to the squad effort that secured the result and to the contributions that carried Liverpool through the night.
“I fully understand on Friday I get a lot of questions again about other things, but tonight it should be about the ones who are here.”
Image credit: Kirill Venediktov, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Focus on Liverpool players in Milan
Slot backed up his message by highlighting performances on the night, with Ibrahima Konate singled out after a strong showing alongside Virgil van Dijk.
“You are highlighting our midfield, but I would like to highlight one player because he’s been highlighted a few times also in a negative way. This time, I would like to highlight Konate, who played a very good game against two very good strikers together with Virgil.
“I don’t think they made a mistake at all; like I said, we only conceded one chance and that is a big compliment if you play against such a great team.”
He also acknowledged the difficult moments Konate has faced in recent weeks and pointed to the defender’s response in Milan.
“I think the hardest thing for him, but also for me, is to see that during large parts of the game he’s played very well, also in games he was involved in goals we conceded. Let’s take the PSV game, I think until that moment he played a very good game.
“That has been so many times, so it is not a surprise to me that he again played well but I am so happy for him that we kept a clean sheet and he wasn’t involved in anything that happened tonight.”
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