Arne Slot was left fuming with his Liverpool players despite their continued perfect record in the Champions League.

Mo Salah’s second-half penalty secured a 1-0 victory over Girona, marking the Reds’ sixth win in six group stage matches and virtually ensuring a top-eight finish to skip February’s play-off round. Yet Slot, welcoming back goalkeeper Alisson from injury, criticized his side for lacking “aggression” in Spain.

He said: “I’m happy with the first five games, but this performance was far from acceptable—especially in two key areas.

“When facing a team with such a clear footballing identity and the ability to build from the back, like City or Real Madrid, you need to play with intensity to disrupt their rhythm. We were far too easily bypassed, and that made things much harder for us.”

He added: “Girona demonstrated their quality, as they have throughout the tournament, except against PSV. Honestly, I feel sorry for them; they deserve far more than just three points.”

Slot also pointed out a lack of urgency in transitions: “Every time we lost possession, we failed to press aggressively, allowing them to counter easily and create dangerous chances.

“In the second half, we showed slight improvement—but honestly, I’m struggling to find positives.”

Arne Slot was furious with his Liverpool players after they laboured to a 1-0 win over Girona

Slot said that Liverpool were ‘outplayed’ in Spain

Brazilian keeper Alisson had been sidelined for over two months with a hamstring injury but made five key saves before Salah struck from the spot after VAR flagged up a foul by Donny van de Beek on Luis Diaz.

Slot joked: “We have to thank Alisson that we kept a clean sheet.

“Maybe his team-mates wanted to make sure if he was really fit, to give him a little work.

“Of course that was not the idea but he showed today why he is so important for us. I said so many times that he is our first goalkeeper.

“That has nothing to do with Caoimhin Kellher, as he did so so well, but Alisson has been so important for this club for so many years and showed why he is one of the best or in my opinion, the best in the world.

“Let’s hope he can keep on putting these performances in and even more that he can stay fit.”

Caoimhin Kelleher was dropped back to the bench after Alisson was declared fit

 

 

Kelleher, who has made it known he wants to leave Merseyside, was forced to sit on the bench here in northern Spain despite helping his team storm to the top of the table.

Despite Kelleher’s fine displays — his only blip was against Newcastle six days earlier — Alisson was always going to be parachuted back into the team.

And he now finds himself back in a team who have still lost only once all season.

Four points clear in the Premier League and now looking certain to finish in the top eight of the Champions League.

This means they will miss the two-legged play-offs in February.

Crucially, the second leg of the games will be played before Liverpool’s scheduled Premier League trip to face Manchester City on February 23.

While Slot’s team will be able to put their feet up in that week, City — potentially — have a play-off match.

Nevertheless, it looks like City are out of the title race and Liverpool are going to take some stopping in all competitions.

Slot also has the added bonus that he will be able to rest any players with aches and strains for the remaining league-stage clashes against Lille and PSV Eindhoven in January.

Yet the Dutchman will be mildly concerned about his team’s performance.

In a crowd of about 10,000 — restricted while the ground is being renovated — there were just 492 Liverpool fans.

To qualify with points, supporters had to have been to 2 European away matches including Spartak Moscow in September 201 . Talk about dedication.

One player making his 235th Liverpool appearance was Joe Gomez and, remarkably, he is still looking for his first goal.

Joe Gomez was booked as he was handed a rare start from centre-back

He was denied the moment he must be dreaming of in the fourth minute when Paulo Gazzaniga, who had stints at Spurs and Southampton among others, showed good reactions to push a header over the bar.

Gazzaniga also kept out a well-hit drive from Darwin Nunez, who was then guilty of wasting a couple of other chances in the first half, particularly one before the break.

It was exactly the sort of performance from Nunez which makes him such a frustrating player.

And Slot admitted that the Uruguayan, is struggling as he made it five games without scoring.

He added: “Every striker around the ball has a period where every ball goes in and sometimes he has a period when he tries so hard and it doesn’t go in.

“We have other players who can score and Mo did today.

“We would love to see Darwin score because every striker needs goals and that is why I kept him in for such a long time but unfortunately he couldn’t score.”

The best chance of the game — until the goal — came in Girona’s first attack.

Unfortunately for the home team, it fell to Daley Blind — although it will come as no surprise to Manchester United fans he completely missed the ball from six yards.

Alisson saved the follow-up from Alejandro Frances and then threw out a desperate arm to avoid being beaten at his near post by Miguel Gutierrez.

The Brazilian stopped an effort from an offside-looking Bryan Gil.

But his finest moment came before the break when he used both his hands to save a decent strike from former Watford midfielder Yaser Asprilla.

Just seconds into the second half, Alisson was at it again, denying Arnaut Danjuma this time.

Girona’s defence certainly had few problems dealing with the Liverpool attack, who looked to have run out of ideas when Diaz fell to the ground after tangling with Van de Beek.

French referee Benoit Bastien told Diaz to get up as he thought it was a dive.

Yet after Andy Robertson’s shot had been saved for a corner, VAR checked over the clash.

Bastien was called over to the screen and did not take long before pointing to the spot — and Salah stuck away the penalty by sending the keeper the wrong way.

 

Liverpool avoided any late dramas to record an 18th win in 21 matches for Slot.

When he landed on Merseyside, at no stage did he think it would be this easy.