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Slot on Ngumoha, Konate and 'belief in special things' against PSG

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final against Paris St-Germain at Anfield (20:00 BST).

The Reds trail 2-0 from the first leg.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

  • On whether Liverpool can overturn the two-goal deficit, Slot said: "We've shown so many times this season in big games we are able to get a big performance. Many were very good. In 49 home games over the last year-and-a-half, in 36 we have scored two goals or more. We have not played all these 49 games against Paris St-Germain, but the Premier League and Champions League opponents we had were very strong. So there is a belief we can do special things tomorrow but we know we need to be very special because we are playing the champions of Europe."
  • Will he play a back three again like in the first leg?: "People find it very hard to believe but the approach is not so different tomorrow as it was in Paris. People who know me know I don't put out a team that defends in a low block for 90 minutes. You could see we pressed them high on multiple occasions. The approach tomorrow will be to take the risk, press them, but we saw how difficult that is."
  • On the importance of a fast start: "We know we need an exceptional performance to go through, but that's normal if you're playing the champions of Europe and 2-0 down. Let's make sure we can get back into the tie and the best way is scoring the first goal. Saturday showed the importance of a goal. First 20 minutes we were the better team by far. Then it was more even for 10 minutes and then we scored and scored again. That is what you can do in football."
  • Slot was asked about Ibrahima Konate, who has previously been linked with a move to PSG and is out of contract at the end of the season: "It's going to be a special evening for Ibou only for a small part because he's French but a big part as he's playing in the quarter-final of the Champions League. The answer is always the same, we don't talk about contracts in public."
  • On 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who scored and assisted against Fulham on Saturday, and the expectations around him: “He can cope with this type of game because of his personality, he doesn’t get distracted. Everyone who knows his history more knows he has had a lot of expectation for many years and he’s always been able to focus on football and become better and stronger. At 17 he has already had multiple starts for Liverpool and the second thing is his quality.”
  • Slot says he believes the Anfield crowd can be "even louder than last season": "Just as important as our performance. We have to be much, much, much better than last season. Their players think they know what is coming up and it's up to Anfield to find a next level. That won't be easy as the atmosphere that night was incredible. But I think our fans are up for it to make it louder. First of all they will expect a better performance from us. Our fans, I can trust them to be even louder than last season."

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[BBC]

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