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Liverpool kicked off their Champions League campaign in perfect fashion with a win at San Siro on Tuesday.
The Reds had been in desperate need of a positive start to the new-look competition after a first defeat of the season on Saturday.
Things had looked ominous when Christian Pulisic gave AC Milan the lead after just three minutes, but Liverpool bounced back to put the game in a stranglehold.
Pundit Paul Merson expressed his surprise at how easily Milan were beaten on the night and it’s perhaps fair to say that Liverpool could have even had a few more goals.
But speaking after the game, Milan boss Paulo Fonseca suggested a reason why the Reds looked so superior to their Champions League hosts.
Photo by Matteo Ciambelli/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Liverpool and AC Milan are undoubtedly two of European football’s biggest clubs.
Only Real Madrid have won the continent’s top competition more than Milan, while Liverpool are third on that list along with Bayern Munich.
When they meet, it is often in finals, with the memorable match-ups of 2005 and 2007 still relatively fresh in the memory.
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However, the Rossoneri team that beat Liverpool in Athens 17 years ago is a long way from the level where Fonseca currently finds his side at.
And speaking to Sky Sport Italia after the 3-1 loss against the Reds, the Portuguese coach admitted that Liverpool are simply ‘more of a team’ than his own group of players at the moment.
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“I told the players, you cannot make those mistakes in this kind of game,” Fonseca bemoaned.
“At the same time, I have to admit Liverpool are more of a team right now than we are, we need to keep working to have not 20 good minutes, but 70, 80, 90 minutes playing our football.
“After we conceded the second goal, the team stopped playing, and it becomes difficult after that,” he added.
On paper, this was perhaps the second most difficult of Liverpool’s Champions League fixtures.
The worst looking tie is the one against Real Madrid, but the Reds will have the Anfield factor behind them then.
It should of course be said that Fonseca is right.
Milan are not in a place their history suggests they ought to be right now.
After several years of Stefano Pioli being in charge, the former Roma manager is now trying to shape the team in his own image.
That can take time.
On the flipside of that, though, Slot is also in the midst of bending Liverpool to fit his own ideals.
The Reds are up and running and hungry for more in the Champions League.
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