Liverpool boss Arne Slot insists big AC Milan decision vindicated after Champions League victory
Liverpool boss Arne Slot says his big decision to drop certain players was vindicated after a thumping victory over AC Milan.
Liverpool came from behind to beat AC Milan at the San Siro on Tuesday night to get their Champions League campaign up and running.
Former Chelsea duo Christian Pulisic and Alvaro Morata combined to give the home side the lead through the American after a fine finish from a tight angle in the early stages.
But AC Milan could not capitalise on their lead as Liverpool took charge soon after with two set-pieces.
Arne Slot's first game in charge of Liverpool in the Champions League ended with victory
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First, Ibrahima Konate towered over the Milan defence with a thumping header from a free-kick before Virgil van Dijk put the Reds ahead from a corner.
The Italians only faltered further when Slot's men revved it up again after the break as Dominik Szoboszlai made it 3-1 on 67 minutes.
The visitors were well worth their victory to bounce back from their shock defeat at Anfield to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Cody Gakpo was one player to come into the side in for Luis Diaz while Andy Robertson was also dropped from the result against Forest.
And the Dutchman won the man-of-the-match award to give Slot a happy 46th birthday.
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"A great way to spend my birthday," he told Amazon Prime after the win.
"We have more than 11 players and the ones that came in did well. You wouldn't have said this after five minutes, but after we did well.
"Losing Saturday was a blow and to be 1-0 down early tonight, you are wondering how we react.
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Liverpool's centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate both scored against AC Milan
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"But if you can play so good it is - I won't say a disgrace - unbelievable you lose to Forest at home if you can play like this today.
"I would have played Cody Gakpo on Saturday but he played two games for the national side. Today was more a team display than an individual display."
Gakpo looked electric throughout the match and it was his endeavour that saw Szoboszlai make sure of the result in the second-half and he explained how Liverpool stuck to the game plan despite Milan's opening goal.
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Set pieces are doing the trick for Liverpool 🪄
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Virgil van Dijk powers a header past Mike Maignan to give the visitors the lead 💪#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/O0ld8Lp0Z1
"I think we had more chances but they were dangerous in moments as well. We controlled the game pretty good and it's a fair result for us," he said.
"We stayed calm and stayed focus. We have to thank our centre-backs for two great headers. After that moment we controlled the game better.
"We work on set-pieces before every game and we're very happy it worked out today.
"Every player wants to play and I got my moment. I really wanted to show myself and I am very happy with an assist but also especially with the win."