The hosts’ dominance was reflected in the statistics, where they forced Thibaut Courtois, the goalkeeper who broke their hearts in the 2022 final, to make nine saves from a total of 17 shot attempts.
By comparison, Kylian Mbappe’s front five, who have scored in all but two games this season, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Eduardo Camavinga have only managed two on target between them.
“Impressive because we played against an incredible team that is in incredible form, losing only once and winning all the other games,” said Slot, whose team has recovered from six defeats in seven games with consecutive wins for the first time since September.
“If you can beat them, but also achieve the performances we had, that’s very positive.
“We had very poor form in terms of results. No excuse in the world can make up for losing so many games, but we had to play a lot of games in a short time.”
Right-back Conor Bradley had an impressive game against Vinicius, having done the same against Mbappe in this match a year ago.
“Conor was excellent, last season he was excellent against Real Madrid,” said Slot.
“Here, three days after Aston Villa, he was against Vinicius. Real scored 26 goals in La Liga and Mbappe and Vinicius had 24 goals, but he defended very well.”
Real boss Xabi Alonso, a former Liverpool midfielder, has now lost in successive seasons at Anfield after being ousted as Bayer Leverkusen coach a year ago.
“I think we fought well. We played with a good rhythm,” said the Spaniard, whose side’s 100 percent Champions League record was ended after four games.
“What we lacked was to hurt them in the final third. It was just small details.”
“We conceded a lot of fouls, Thibaut Courtois couldn’t save that header from a set piece and it was difficult for us today, but I’m not going to complain about my team, we tried well.
“We have to see this as an isolated defeat. We competed well; we were equal to them. We will learn from it.”
Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had been booed all night, came off the bench in the final ten minutes but could not influence the match as his every touch was booed.
“That was to be expected. He is professional and mature, so he was ready for that,” said Alonso.
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