Slot says avoiding Champions League knockout round more important than being top | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
June 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2025
Slot says avoiding Champions League knockout round more important than being top

Sports

Reuters
22 January, 2025, 10:45 am
Last modified: 22 January, 2025, 10:48 am

Related News

  • Slot not sure whether Alexander-Arnold will play in season finale
  • Slot says all at Liverpool sad to see Alexander-Arnold go
  • Slot hails Premier League title as one of the best days of his life
  • Slot says Liverpool have 'big responsibility' to clinch title at Anfield
  • Liverpool one win away from title, Leicester relegated, Ipswich almost down

Slot says avoiding Champions League knockout round more important than being top

Liverpool's win guaranteed the Premier League leaders a top-eight finish and a berth in the last 16.

Reuters
22 January, 2025, 10:45 am
Last modified: 22 January, 2025, 10:48 am
Slot says avoiding Champions League knockout round more important than being top

While Liverpool narrowly missed clinching top spot with a game to spare in the Champions League despite a 2-1 defeat of French side Lille on Tuesday, manager Arne Slot said finishing in the top eight and avoiding two playoff games was the most important thing.

Liverpool's win guaranteed the Premier League leaders a top-eight finish and a berth in the last 16, thus avoiding the two-legged knockout phase facing the teams who finish ninth to 24th.

Barcelona, who staged a dramatic 5-4 comeback win over Benfica with a stoppage-time goal by Raphinha, are snapping at Liverpool's heels, three points behind with one round of the league phase to play.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"If in tennis you are the No. 1 seed it is better to face the No. 24 than the 12, but it is a ranking based on years," Slot said.
"Now we are in a new format when some teams are high in the league table because they had a lucky draw and some teams are low because they have a very difficult draw. It is far off to say it is an advantage to be one or two. You might be lucky, you might be very unlucky.

"For me, it doesn't tell me anything. The most important thing is we managed to skip a round."

Mohamed Salah scored his 50th European goal for Liverpool and substitute Harvey Elliott sealed the victory in the 67th minute after Jonathan David had levelled for Lille.

Liverpool set a club record for their longest spell without conceding a goal in European competition, with 599 minutes elapsing between Christian Pulisic's goal for AC Milan in the opening game and David's strike on Tuesday.

In between, Liverpool kept clean sheets against Bologna, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and Girona, and topped the 572 minutes without conceding in the 2005-06 season under Rafael Benitez.

"Very pleased," Slot said. "Where I put everything down to, first of all quality of the players and second these players have a quality work rate. If you combine those two things it is very difficult to score against the team. The nice thing for me is we keep clean sheets not by defending a lot, we keep clean sheets by attacking a lot."

Slot said patience was required against a Lille side that maintained their composure even after being reduced to 10 men in the second half, showing why they had been unbeaten in 21 successive games across all competitions.

"They don't have the best players in the world (but) it is how disciplined they are, how hard they want to work," Slot said. "We didn't force the pass, we kept the ball for as long as we could. The only thing I wasn't happy about was it was one chance for the other team."

Top News

Arne Slot / liverpool / champions league

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Foreign firm to draft merger plan for investment promotion agencies
    Foreign firm to draft merger plan for investment promotion agencies
  • File photo of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Photo: Collected
    Joy spends Eid with Hasina in India: Indian media
  • Bangladesh's growth forecast unchanged: WB report
    Bangladesh's growth forecast unchanged: WB report

MOST VIEWED

  • Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS
    Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon
  • A file photo of Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur. Photo: Collected
    'I have no relation with this': Ahsan Mansur debunks Joy’s allegations over daughter’s Dubai flat
  • Faiz Ahmad Tayeb. Photo: BSS
    Import duty on raw materials for e-bikes, lithium batteries reduced from 80% to 1% in some cases: Faiz Taiyeb
  • Screengrab from video shows a group of local youths forcing tourists to leave a tourist spot in Utmachhra area of Sylhet's Companiganj on Sunday, 8 June 2025, citing allegations of obscene activities and environmental damage
    Locals declare tourist spot in Sylhet 'closed', force visitors to leave
  • Shakil Ahmed. Photo: Collected
    DU student allegedly hangs himself following threats over old derogatory comment about Prophet on Facebook
  • Photo shows the Land Cruiser Prado car belonging to former member of parliament (MP) Anwarul Azim Anar found in Kushtia. Photo: TBS
    Luxury car of ex-AL MP Anar, who was killed in Kolkata, found in Kushtia

Related News

  • Slot not sure whether Alexander-Arnold will play in season finale
  • Slot says all at Liverpool sad to see Alexander-Arnold go
  • Slot hails Premier League title as one of the best days of his life
  • Slot says Liverpool have 'big responsibility' to clinch title at Anfield
  • Liverpool one win away from title, Leicester relegated, Ipswich almost down

Features

Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

13h | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

1d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

3d | Bangladesh
Illustration: TBS

Unbearable weight of the white coat: The mental health crisis in our medical colleges

6d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Greta Thunberg deported from Israel

Greta Thunberg deported from Israel

15h | TBS World
BNP is not a revolutionary party: Mirza Fakhrul

BNP is not a revolutionary party: Mirza Fakhrul

16h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 10 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 10 JUNE 2025

14h | TBS News of the day
Trump sends 2,000 more National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles

Trump sends 2,000 more National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles

16h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net