As the clock ticked towards 11pm local time in Milan, Arne Slot could finally sit back, relax and enjoy his 46th birthday. After a few days stressing over whether his team could right the wrongs of a dismal defeat on Saturday, the Liverpool head coach was finally gifted a present.
It came in the form of three points to start the Champions League campaign, in one of world sport’s most grand arenas at the coliseum-like San Siro. As far as a welcome to European football with Liverpool goes, this was a baptism of fire for Slot.
For the first 20 minutes, it felt like his team were going to melt in the cauldron of noise and succumb to pressure. But goals from both centre halves, Ibrahima Konate and captain Virgil van Dijk, gave Slot the perfect end to his birthday as they came from behind to topple AC Milan.
Dominik Szoboszlai added a third on 67 minutes to put the game to bed after some wasteful finishing before it and then Slot finally cut a more relaxed figure. Given the calm nature of the Dutchman, he had spent the first hour or so here pacing his technical area with anxiety.
Evidently, he felt he had a point to prove. With this Liverpool’s first Champions League game for 18 months, they were back at Europe’s top table – and Slot needed to show he belonged here too. Did he do that? Absolutely.
