Xabi Alonso Gives Honest Champions League Verdict After Liverpool Defeat

Liverpool thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in the Champions League at Anfield on Tuesday

Arne Slot and Xabi Alonso, Liverpool v Bayer Leverkusen, UEFA Champions League, Anfield / IMAGO / Propaganda Photo

Xabi Alonso has reacted to Bayer Leverkusen's humiliating 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The defending Bundesliga champions suffered their first defeat on the road for 18 months.

After a goalless first half at Anfield, the Reds scored two quick-fire goals from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo.

Diaz then struck two more to register his first-ever hat-trick as a Liverpool player and the result lifts Arne Slot's side top of the revamped Champions League table.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Alonso told reporters: “For sure, the second half compared to the first half wasn’t good enough.

"First 45 minutes we competed really well and played well.

"We were able to have good possession and maybe not that many chances, but intense in defence and have good organisation.

“Second half we started not having the ball in such good positions, we couldn’t find the free player so they were recovering the ball too easily.

"Because of that we weren’t able to hold the intensity.

“We dropped a little bit our tempo and the first goal is a consequence of that, they played the ball through too easily, we weren’t squeezing the line quickly enough and the second one two minutes later, it was tough.

“We weren’t able to recover from that.

"We weren’t able to hold it to 1-0 longer, if we could have done that for 15-20 minutes it would have been better but 2-0 made it much harder.

“Caoimhin Kelleher made great saves at 2-1 and with open spaces they scored two more goals.

"To lose 4-0 is a hard result, harder (to take) than the performance but it is what it is.

"This is the Champions League at Anfield against one of the best teams."

Bayer Leverkusen will look to bounce back to winning ways when they face Bochum this weekend while Liverpool welcome Aston Villa to Anfield before the November international break.