Rio Ferdinand claims Liverpool are ‘the best team in Europe’ after victory over Real Madrid – as he insists Arne Slot’s side were like ‘rottweilers’ on the pitch

Liverpool are the ‘best team in Europe’ and are ‘playing like Rottweilers that have not been fed in a while’, according to pundit Rio Ferdinand.

The Reds toppled the mighty Real Madrid last night after goals from Alexis Mac Allister and substitute Cody Gakpo made it five wins from five in Europe, to put them top of the Champions League as well as the Premier League.

Caoimhin Kelleher made a heroic stop to deny Kylian Mbappe from the penalty spot at 1-0 while Mohamed Salah failed to follow up his blockbuster comments this week as the Egyptian also missed a spot-kick.

But this was a breathtaking display from Slot’s men and Ferdinand said on TNT Sports: ‘They’ve put the gauntlet down to all the other teams in Europe. They look like the best team in Europe at the moment.

‘They’re playing as a team and look the hungriest individuals about. They’re not only getting results, they look starving. They look like they haven’t been fed for ages, Rottweilers running round the pitch hunting teams down. They’ve got the composure.’

Slot had his family in attendance and hailed a special night. ‘It is always good to win a game, especially a big game like this,’ said the Dutchman, who will be back at the AXA Training Centre this morning to prepare for a crunch title tussle against strugglers Manchester City on Sunday.

Rio Ferdinand labelled them the ‘best team in Europe’ after beating Real Madrid on Wednesday

Arne Slot has got the best out of Egyptian star Mohamed Salah in recent weeks – despite the forward’s contract stand-off

‘It will mean more in the later stages of the tournament. It is difficult to judge how big these wins are. If we are able to beat them in the knockout stages it will be a bigger statement.’

Slot also thanked the Liverpool academy for penalty hero Kelleher and player-of-the-match Conor Bradley, who marked Mbappe out of the match and registered an assist. ‘He assisted? I didn’t know… he was in a strange position then,’ laughed Slot.

‘It is nice for him, his family and the academy that a player who comes through does so well, like Caoimhin and Curtis (Jones). To have three academy players doing so well is a big compliment and Conor did very well. I am not surprised because he showed it last season.’

Jude Bellingham was another to flop on the big stage for Carlo Ancelotti’s men and he said: ‘They were just more up for it than us which is really disappointing to say. It’s a bad result against the best-performing team in Europe.

‘It’s no disgrace to come here and lose but we are disappointed in how we performed.’

Ancelotti, whose European champions are 24th in the new-look league phase, added: ‘To be totally honest it is a fair result, Liverpool deserved to win, they have a real good dynamic. They are in great form, connected playing with a high intensity.’

On Mbappe, the seven-time European Cup winner said: ‘This has happened before in my career many times, forwards with no confidence. There is a medicine… I think Mbappe is in a difficult moment. We have to support him and give him our love, he will soon be fine.’