Arne Slot Makes History As Liverpool Thrash Bayer Leverkusen In Champions League
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot etched his name into the history books on Tuesday night as the Reds secured a 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
Liverpool maintained their 100% record in the competition as Slot masterminded yet another masterclass at Anfield.
The Dutchman has made an impressive start to his reign as Liverpool boss since replacing Jurgen Klopp in the summer.
After a goalless stalemate in the first half, Luis Diaz opened the scoring with his first hat-trick in Liverpool colours, while Cody Gakpo also registered his first-ever goal in the Champions League.
Following the win, Slot set a new record for the most games won in a manager's first 16 games at the helm of a Premier League team.
The 46-year-old has earned 14 victories in his short time in charge of the Reds.
He has now broken the previous record set by Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, who each won 13 of their first 16 games in charge of Chelsea in 2004 and 2009 respectively.
Liverpool are top of the Premier League and revamped Champions League with 25 and 12 points respectively.
Slot's only setbacks have been a 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest and 2-2 draw away to Premier League title rivals Arsenal.
No other team also boasts 12 points from 12 in the season's Champions League campaign.
Sporting Lisbon and AS Monaco are the Reds' closest challengers with 10, however, Aston Villa have the opportunity to draw level with them when they take on Club Brugge on Wednesday evening.
Speaking after the game Slot said: "I think if you work at any club around the world, there is always pressure.
"So for some clubs or some managers, there is pressure not to go down.
"For some, they have to win a lot. In our position, there is always pressure.
"This is the pressure we give ourselves as well because if you work for Liverpool or play at Liverpool, as a player or a manager, you know the manager is probably going to come next and so many other great players have set the standard so high over here, so it always feels there is a bit of pressure.
"But we also embrace this because that is also what we want.
"We want to be there, where we are now, we want to compete for everything and, therefore, you have to accept that if you work here or play here that there is pressure.
"The other side is, if you work or play here you can enjoy incredible evenings and enjoy it because today the atmosphere…
"I said last Saturday, this was impressive – but I think this was even more impressive today."
LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli