LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Liverpool boss Arne Slot said on Tuesday he could not have imagined when he arrived that barely four months later his team would be sitting atop both the Champions League and Premier League tables after their latest 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Three days after they climbed back to the summit in the domestic league, Slot’s men thrashed Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen thanks to a Luis Diaz hat-trick at Anfield to maintain their unblemished Champions League record this season.
They provisionally lead the standings of Europe’s elite club competition after their fourth win in four matches.
Asked if he could have imagined how well Liverpool would be doing now when he joined the club he said: “No. You don’t look ahead as a manager you don’t look ahead two or three months in advance. You only look at the next opponent…
“And now it’s Aston Villa on Saturday (in the Premier League), which is, again, a team that does really well in Europe and in the league, another tough game.”
If there were concerns about how Liverpool would fare when their beloved manager Juergen Klopp left after nine seasons, Slot has put them to rest with a remarkable 14 wins in 16 games in all competitions.
The 46-year-old Dutchman played Diaz at centre forward on Tuesday, which proved to be a stroke of genius.
“Things have gone so well with the new manager, it wasn’t easy for him to come in and fill Juergen Klopp’s shoes,” Diaz said. “Hopefully, we’ll have something to show for it at the end of the season.”
Liverpool have conceded just one goal in their four Champions League matches.
Villa, the only other team with a 100% record, travel to Belgium to take on Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s game marked the return to Anfield of Leverkusen manager and former Reds midfield hero Alonso, who had kind words for his old team after they thrashed his German champions with a four-goal onslaught in the second half.
“It’s early to tell but I can see that Liverpool have a very good balance, a very complete team,” Alonso said.
“They work the 11 players and they have the power to hold a clean sheet which is important in the Champions League. In the Premier League, let’s see … but it’s looking good.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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