Liverpool have rare chance for Arne Slot to surpass Jurgen Klopp

Tdoes it have the best team in Europe against the best team in Europe? Real Madrid’s case for being considered the outstanding team last season seemed almost unshakable. They won the Champions League, while displaying their now familiar habit of flirting with an exit before staging escapist acts. They won La Liga by eight points, losing just one game out of 38.

Significant rewards don’t come from being the best in the fall – two years ago Napoli were arguably the best team on the continent, but only managed to reach the round of 16 in Europe – but Liverpool were the only ones with a 100 percent record. after the first four days of the revamped Champions League. They are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League. They have won 16 of 18 games under Arne Slot.

Real have lost three of their last five games against anyone. If they suffer a third defeat in four Champions League matches, their potential path to eventual glory could become more of an obstacle course than usual: currently 21st, a top eight finish would seem implausible with another pointless exit. Real could be the most glamorous participant in this new play-off round.

If Slot has the chance to shift the balance of power on the continent, it could be relevant to both Liverpool’s past and future. The Dutchman has been bombarded with comparisons to his predecessor. But for once, he didn’t have to fear them.

Jurgen Klopp faced Real six times as Liverpool manager, losing five of them, securing one draw that still resulted in a two-legged defeat. Slot even took advantage of Real’s 2-0 comeback to win 5-2 at Anfield in 2023 to inspire his Feyenoord team. Real were Klopp’s kryptonite, beating Liverpool in the 2018 and 2022 finals. These were the stories of two goalkeepers: Loris Karius’s traumatic night in kyiv in 2018, Thibaut Courtois’s night of invincibility in Paris four years later late. “I’m not really looking to owe people a debt or take revenge,” left-back Andy Robertson said. “And 2018 was so important to our journey that no one expected us to be in the final. But 2022 hurt much more. Their goalkeeper was man of the match, which says a lot.

Courtois will be at Anfield but Liverpool’s other foe misses a meeting. Vinicius Junior won the 2022 final. He has five goals in his last five games for the Merseysiders but has been ruled out with a hamstring injury. He tormented Trent Alexander-Arnold like few others have. If the Liverpudlian joins Real next summer, part of his motivation, apart from his stated ambition to win the Ballon d’Or and the likelihood of him adding at least one more Champions League to his medal collection, could be simply to avoid facing the Brazilian in anything other than training.

Alexander-Arnold will not start Wednesday’s match either; he might be able to play a few minutes as a substitute. This may not mean that Real’s search for a right-back extends to the question of whether Conor Bradley, nicknamed by some fans as “the Castlederg Cafu”, could instead be “the Castlederg Carvajal”. Alexander-Arnold’s situation is nevertheless instructive.

Only two clubs have won the European Cup more than Liverpool. In the last seven seasons, no one has appeared in more finals. “I think Real Madrid and Manchester City have dominated Europe and the league for a few years now, combined with Liverpool,” Slot said. However, they may not be equal. The path from Anfield to the Bernabeu is a well-trodden one: through Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, Michael Owen and Steve McManaman, the latter duo, like Alexander-Arnold, products of Liverpool’s youth system, footballers who otherwise might have been men of a single club. McManaman had little reason to regret his choice; Owen, later taunted by chanting “Where were you in Istanbul?” when he returns to Liverpool he may have more.

Collectively, however, the impression is that Real remains the ultimate destination club. Transfer target to escape Klopp, the man who could have been the face of ‘Liverpool 2.0’, plays at Anfield on Wednesday: But Liverpool admitted defeat in attempts to persuade Jude Bellingham to swap Dortmund for Merseyside .

Real’s interest has changed the equation: likewise, Liverpool’s troubled 2022-23 season, meaning they would be unable to deliver Champions League football and their budget for an overhaul of the midfield should be distributed in several ways. Liverpool could instead field a central trio of men they bought instead, namely Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch.

While Bellingham might look to persuade his friend Alexander-Arnold to join him at the Bernabeu, Liverpool have taken a different approach. Real were irritated at not winning the Ballon d’Or this year, even though Vinicius, Bellingham and Dani Carvajal came second, third and fourth in the voting. When Owen joined Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo in the Spanish capital in 2004-05, Real had four former winners. Liverpool nevertheless won the Champions League that season.

Reds have less stardust; their biggest name, Mohamed Salah, could still leave next summer, with a new contract not yet agreed. And yet the eagerness of Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk to re-sign indicates that Liverpool still have charm.

Some of that came from Klopp and some of it came from the prospect of big European nights at Anfield for a long time. Liverpool have played them against many clubs – Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and City, Napoli and Roma – under Klopp, but not against Real.

Slot now have a rare chance to surpass their predecessor and, even though Klopp made them European champions, secure a result that reinforces their claim to currently being the best team on the continent.