Slot ‘surprised’ by Salah, reveals Chiesa problem and hails ‘quality’ Inter

Liverpool manager Arne Slot admits he was ‘surprised’ when Mo Salah lashed out at him publicly, explains Federico Chiesa’s problem, and sees ‘more similarities than differences’ in Cristian Chivu and Simone Inzaghi’s Inter.

The Champions League clash kicks off at San Siro on Tuesday at 20.00 GMT.

The Nerazzurri are currently second in the Serie A table and won the first four Champions League games before their last-gasp defeat to Atletico Madrid.

However, the dominant issue in Slot’s press conference at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza this evening was inevitably the damning comments made by fan favourite Salah, who lashed out claiming he had been “thrown under the bus” by his manager.

Slot faces barrage of Salah questions

“The only one who can answer the question is Mo himself. It’s hard for me to tell who he means in that situation,” said Slot in the press conference.

“He’s not travelling with us, of course before Saturday the two of us had spoken a lot. I don’t feel the relationship has broken down, but he has the right to feel the way he feels. I didn’t feel that at all until Saturday evening, as usually players don’t like the manager that much when he is dropped, but he was very respectful to me and my teammates.

“To an extent, it was a surprise to me when I heard the comments he had made. But as I said, it’s not the first time or the last time that Salah won’t play.

“I think my reaction to that is also clear, and he is not here. It is the evening before a big game against Inter Milan, there are only 46 hours since the 3-3 we conceded against Leeds, so my thoughts are on tomorrow. After tomorrow, we’ll reflect on the situation.”

Could there be a way back from this for Salah, and how did he react when told he wouldn’t be in the squad for the Inter match?

“I’m a firm believer there is always the possibility to return for a player. What was his response? Short.”

Salah reacted angrily after being left on the bench for three consecutive games, but Slot insists he had to try something following dismal Liverpool performances.

“We as a team struggled more and more with the game plans that other teams had against us, so I’ve tried to come up with solutions, because that is my job. We tried many things and we looked very vulnerable after everything we tried, so I decided to play with an extra midfielder against West Ham, when we won, and tried it again against Sunderland.

“In Leeds we faced a 3-5-2, so we decided to play a 4-4-2 diamond if you want to describe it like that. Mo could’ve played off the right instead of Hugo, but I decided to play Hugo.”

Has Salah played his last game for Liverpool?

“I don’t know, I cannot answer that right now.”

Has this controversy made life more difficult for Slot ahead of a big Champions League game with Inter?

“I don’t feel that my authority is undermined. It’s not very important, whether it’s difficult for me, it’s about it being difficult for the team. Nobody likes being in this situation, it’s hard to see staff members who work every day being affected by the situation and the results. That’s not a good thing for the team, that is where my thoughts go, not to myself.

“It is difficult to understand what he is referring to. Usually I am calm and polite, but that doesn’t mean I’m weak.”

Could Slot have done anything different to avoid the situation getting this bad?

“Then I have to find out exactly why he said what he said. If it is me not playing him? Then what I could’ve done is play him, but I don’t think that’s why he said what he said. He has the right to feel what he feels, but not to share it all with the media.

“We were on the training ground today and I told him he wouldn’t travel today.”

Also not in the travelling party are Cody Gakpo and Italy international Chiesa.

“Gakpo picked up an injury against Leeds and will be out for a few weeks,” explained Slot.

“Federico is ill, so that is poor timing, but not something you can do anything about. If he has an amazing recovery, which doctors don’t expect, he could travel tomorrow, but it’s not what we expect.

“I don’t know if anyone wants to hear exactly what he has, but he came in this morning…. So he’s ill. If you are very interested in exactly what…”

The reticence is because Sky Sport Italia reported Chiesa has a stomach bug and felt debilitated by the effects.

The topic of the conversation finally got around to Inter and tomorrow’s game, as Chivu took over the team that reached the Champions League Final under Inzaghi in 2023 and 2025.

“We face a very good and strong team that has been a force in the Champions League for several seasons, twice playing the Final, once going out on penalties to Atletico Madrid, which unfortunately we did too.

“So we know we’re going to face a very good team tomorrow, and that is the biggest challenge that we face. They have a disciplined and very experienced team with a lot of quality.”

Have Inter changed much since Chivu took over from Inzaghi at San Siro?

“I see more similarities than differences, so same system, I think almost all the same players for the starting line-up. So yeah, he probably did a few things, but the way they press high up the pitch, I see more similarities than differences between Inzaghi and Chivu,” noted Slot.

“I think it’s normal if you take over a team that plays the Champions League Final, to keep doing the things that they were doing.”

Chivu was a defender in the Netherlands before coming to Serie A and taking his career to the next level with Inter, winning the Treble in 2010, but as a coach this is only his second senior role after a brief spell at Parma.

“I think I played against him when he was at Ajax, he was a very good defender, but very comfortable on the ball. You can see it in his team, they defend really aggressive in a high press, they defend in the box like no other team in the world, but they also can play out from the back, so I see that from his playing days,” noted Slot.

Finally, Slot was asked about Gennaro Gattuso’s comments that Chiesa had asked not to be called up for international duty with Italy, because he wanted to fully regain his fitness with Liverpool first. How far is that process along now?

“I don’t think it’s up to me to decide who should be selected for a national team. I am very happy to see Federico is in a much better place than last season, when he struggled with his fitness. He is much fitter this season and therefore had more playing time. He also had a few very good moments,” concluded Slot.

“It’s up to the Italian manager to decide who he wants to select. I like him as a player and I like him as a person.”