ReactionArne Slot press conference: UCL qualification, season review, Robbo and Salah receptions and more
Arne Slot discussed Champions League qualification, provided an immediate review of the season and praised the receptions afforded to departing legends Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah after Liverpool ended the campaign by drawing 1-1 with Brentford.
The Reds went into Sunday’s final game of the 2025-26 Premier League at Anfield requiring one point to be certain of finishing in the top five.
And Curtis Jones’ goal shortly before the hour, which was cancelled out by Kevin Schade, ultimately secured fifth spot on an emotional day that was dominated by Robertson and Salah, who made the final appearances of their glittering Liverpool careers.
Read every word from Slot’s last post-match press conference of the season below.
On the game, with Liverpool gaining the point they needed to qualify for the Champions League…
Again, we didn’t get what we deserved so that’s a common theme this season. We deserved to win, although in the 100th minute we could have even lost it and so many times this season we’ve seen that before, that we were getting chances to make the winner and then in the 10th minute of extra time they got a serious chance, the header. This time it didn’t go in, so many times this season it did go in.
So, I think it was another game that looked similar to all the other games we have played – I think it took them 40 minutes before they arrived in our 18-yard box for the first time. Maybe I am exaggerating it a little bit but we completely dominated the first half, but off a throw-in they get their first chance. And yeah, set-pieces is another theme that we spoke about a lot this season.
On the season as a whole…
We came here today to do the minimum, that’s the minimum required, and that is qualifying for the Champions League. As you see when you take a look at the league table, big clubs are not able to qualify for Champions League or Europe. Big clubs have not been able to qualify for Europe in the last few seasons in this league, so we can never take it for granted but it’s clear and obvious that we wanted more. But I’m really proud of the players, what they’ve done this season, because it’s been a very, very, very tough season for us, with all the things we had to experience, with all the injuries, and I can come up with all these things we have had to go through.
But if this in the end is then the minimum for us, qualifying for the Champions League, fifth place, and going out in the FA Cup against the winners after losing an away game to Manchester City, which so many teams do. Losing against Paris Saint-Germain for the second year in a row, where no team in the last two years were able to beat them over two games. Over one game, Chelsea of course in the Club World Cup and maybe Arsenal now in the final, but over two games not one team has been able to do so. So yeah, not what I would have loved us to achieve this season before we started but taking everything into account, what has happened to us this season, I’m today happy that we’ve qualified for the Champions League.
On the reception the supporters gave to Robertson and Salah…
Brilliant, as always, as what you can expect from our fans. So, they completely got what they deserved. Two legends that in the last nine years won nine trophies over here. So, yeah, for them it must have been a special day, a difficult day probably as well, but definitely also a special day and the fans made it special for them as well. I think I’ve said it many times, this club knows how to celebrate a league title, this club knows to handle tragedies and this club definitely also knows how to celebrate these two players.
On whether there is anything he would look back on and feel he could have done differently throughout the season…
Oh yeah, many things. We, I haven’t been perfect, but I would have answered this question exactly the same in the year we won the league because as a manager you can never be perfect [and] a player can never be perfect. But all the decisions I’ve made throughout the whole season has been only with one idea, and that’s being very well prepared. So, all the decisions I made were never made from, ‘Oh, I have no time, let’s make a decision like this.’
No, I thought about it really well and as you know, not every decision can be the right one so it would be stupid for me to sit here and say all the decisions I’ve made were the right ones. But before I made them, it every time felt they were the right ones to make. But a lot of times I didn’t even have to make decisions or choices because this [game] was maybe the first time this season that there were no Academy players on our bench - and that has been an exception. So, if you asked me one word to describe this season, I would describe that with the word ‘injury’.