Slot relishing challenge of Liverpool's schedule
Arne Slot described his overriding emotion as one of excitement when questioned about his feelings over Liverpool's potentially season-defining fixtures.
Liverpool is back in action after the international break this weekend against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals, before returning to the European stage.
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Paris Saint-Germain is the Reds' opponents in the last eight of the UEFA Champions League, with the two legs against Luis Enrique's team coming either side of a Premier League clash with Fulham at Anfield on 12 April (AEST).
Slot's men are at risk of missing out on a place in UEFA's flagship competition next season, with Liverpool fifth in the top flight after a defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion last time out.
But when asked how he was feeling with a busy few weeks ahead, Slot said: "[I am] excited. This is what we worked for throughout the season, to be involved in games like that.
"Of course, we probably played the toughest opponents you can face as well in the FA Cup as in the [UEFA] Champions League, but you always know if you end up in the quarter-finals that these are teams you can face. It's exciting for us.
"I think it's also challenging for them to play Liverpool. As we know, we played Paris Saint-Germain last season in the Round of 16, now in the quarter-finals and both of these games were a joy to watch.
"I watched them back – both of them – I liked the one at Anfield a little bit more than the one in Paris, although we won in Paris and lost at Anfield.
"But [we're] really looking forward to it. We've shown so many times this season that we can be a very good team. Unfortunately, we've also shown this season a few times that we look vulnerable, and we have to get the best out of ourselves as we've had many times this season.
"But that's what we definitely need again in the upcoming weeks to do what we want to do and that is to continue our run in both cups and qualify for the Champions League next season."
But first up is a trip to Etihad Stadium to take on a Manchester City side which entered the international break on the back of lifting the Carabao Cup after defeating Arsenal in the final at Wembley.
This will be the seventh FA Cup tie between City and Liverpool. The Citizens progressed from the first two after replays in 1955-1956 and 1972-1973.
However, the Reds have since won each of the past four, most recently in the 2021-2022 semi-final en route to winning what is Liverpool's most recent FA Cup trophy.
Liverpool has also progressed from 17 of its past 19 FA Cup quarter-final ties, although it lost 4-3 to Manchester United in its most recent in 2023-2024.
"First of all, I'm looking forward to the fact that in the away game it's always nice because our fans are always loud, but as has been told to me in the FA Cup, we get even more fans to help us over there," Slot added.
"So, that's going to be something to look forward to. Our players, unfortunately, most of us had good results, the results afterwards when they weren't as we wanted them to be.
"That had a lot to do with players not being available then, which we saw in the last game when we played Brighton.
"So, during the week, we played a very good game, in my opinion, one of our best against Galatasaray. I hope and expect we can be the team that we were against Galatasaray.
"That's also what we need to be, because City have shown one day after we played Brighton, when they won the League Cup, how good of a team they are, how many good players they have and how good a manager they have. It's a very nice game to look forward to."
