Arne Slot shines, Paulo Fonseca falters as Liverpool outclass AC Milan in Champions League

MILAN – On a night that saw Arne Slot and Paulo Fonseca each take the managerial reins in a Champions League game with their new teams for the first time, their experiences could not have been more different.

Slot guided Liverpool to a resounding 3-1 victory over Fonseca’s AC Milan following a shaky start at the San Siro on Sept 17, as his team remained calm after conceding a goal in just the third minute.

“To come back so strong and dominant, it was a deserved victory,” said the Dutchman, who replaced much-heralded manager Jurgen Klopp at the Merseyside club this season.

“This is an evening I will remember in the future. Hopefully, many more times like this will come as Liverpool manager.”

Ibrahima Konate, captain Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai scored for the Reds after Christian Pulisic capitalised on some disorganised defending by Slot’s men for Milan’s lone goal.

For Liverpool, it was a return to winning ways after falling to a shock home loss to Nottingham Forest on Sept 14, while Milan again struggled under Fonseca ahead of the derby against Italian champions Inter Milan on Sept 22.

Fonseca has failed to convince Milan supporters, a large number of whom stayed away, with fewer than 60,000 turning up for one of their team’s highest-profile fixtures of the new league phase of Europe’s top club competition.

But some fans still put up a giant display which read “Fearless” before kick-off and the hosts tore straight into Liverpool, forcing van Dijk to desperately clear Tijjani Reijnders’ low cross.

Pulisic quickly put Milan ahead with his superb low finish punishing the Reds’ dawdling defence. But the visitors then started to kick into gear, and their pressing started to force Milan into giving the ball away cheaply.

They were level in the 23rd minute, when Konate nodded home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s floated free kick. With Liverpool taking control, van Dijk nodded the English Premier League giants ahead shortly before half-time.

Following the interval, Fonseca could only look on in the 67th minute as Szoboszlai bundled home Cody Gakpo’s teasing cross to seal the win.

“It was a great day to celebrate your birthday at a stadium like this, and then to win. I wouldn’t have said this after five minutes, but it went quite well,” Slot, who turned 46 on Sept 17, told Prime Video.

Van Dijk, meanwhile, told Amazon Prime: “Shaky start with the goal that we conceded. But after that, the way we stayed calm, kept playing, kept looking for the solution, that was very good to see.”

A day after Fonseca said his men would have to be “defensively perfect” against Liverpool, they were porous and far from perfect. And it could have been significantly worse, with the Reds enjoying 12 shots on target to Milan’s two.

“We played against Liverpool, a great team. We started the match well offensively and defensively, then we conceded two goals from set-pieces which changed the game,” Fonseca, who replaced Stefano Pioli at Milan, told Sky.

“When details are missing, we can have problems doing what we prepare in training. Liverpool are more of a team than us, we have to work to play without problems for 70-80 minutes.”

The two managers have had wildly differing starts to their respective league seasons, with Slot’s men winning their first three games before the shock 1-0 loss to Forest to sit fourth in the Premier League.

Milan are 10th in Serie A with just one win in four games.

In the end, it was Slot who celebrated, as disappointed Milan fans began streaming towards the exits long before the final whistle, while Liverpool can look ahead with optimism after a convincing victory. REUTERS, AFP