Arne Slot is looking forward to his first European fixture at Anfield as Liverpool head coach.
The Reds will play their first Champions League home match since February 2023 when they host Bologna on Wednesday night.
Liverpool currently sit at the top of the Premier League table and made a strong start to the Champions League, defeating AC Milan 3-1 at San Siro in their opening match.
In an interview with UEFA.com, Slot shared his excitement for the upcoming European occasion under the Anfield lights.
The Dutchman said: “There are [clubs] where you need to do a lot of good things before they start to support you, but here the stadium is on fire from the first second, like it was at Feyenoord as well.
“I know how special a home game at Feyenoord was, but the home games in Europe were even more special.
“So, because people told me it’s the same here at Liverpool, I expect a lot when we play the first game against [Bologna].
“I’m definitely looking forward to my first experience of European nights, a European evening.”
He added: “The culture of this team, the culture of this club, the hard work, the players showing up every day in training sessions, trying to bring the best out of them… sometimes, if you come to a new club, you need to get that culture in, but that was absolutely not necessary over here.
“I inherited a lot of quality, but maybe even more importantly I inherited a team, a club that was already fully focused on hard work and trying to get the best out of the team and individuals every single day.
“I wouldn’t say I was surprised by that, but it was nice to see that it was just like Jürgen [Klopp] told me, because he told me that that was the culture and I experienced this from the start.”
Asked about his philosophy of football, he replied: “If you asked my father now, he would say, ‘He does everything different as a manager to how he was as a player.’
“I always make the same joke. I always say, ‘I was not so fast, some people called me slow, and that helped me maybe a bit with game insight.’
“I needed the team to get to a certain level because, individually, I couldn’t go around three players.
“I always needed my teammates where I could play them my passes.
“I had to think a lot about the game; maybe that’s what helps me now.
“At a certain age, I felt like, ‘OK, if a teammate of mine plays this ball, it normally leads to losing the ball, and if we play a different ball, it leads to success.’
“At the end of my career, that became more and more clear to me.
“I was lucky enough that then the Barcelona team started playing, and I saw similar patterns, not in terms of how we play it, but more, ‘OK, this ball which we sometimes play – and Barcelona constantly plays – leads to success.’ And that’s helped me create my own philosophy about football.”
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