Last year, no one at Liverpool thought for a second about Xabi Alonso, who turned down the opportunity to become Klopp’s replacement for last season. Arne Slot made sure of that, with his jubilant season in his debut to the Premier League title. Inside the second part of Slot’s second season, the melody is different. The Dutchman is on fire, 14 points behind league leader Arsenal and risky business in the Champions League. On top of this, Liverpool’s former first choice, Xabi Alonso, is tripping impatiently to return to the ring after being sacked at Real Madrid. At a press conference before the Champions League match against Marseille, Slot was asked a strange question, which he tried to joke away.
Without much success. We don’t know if this was Dutch irioni/sarcasm/humor, but the English media experienced the whole thing as a bizzare joke. We take it as if Alonso has already “gotten under the skin” at Slot.
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Before Wednesday’s game, Slot was asked if he had spoken to the recently sacked Alonso, here is Slot’s answer:
-Yes, he called me and said: ‘What do you think of the team, because I’m going to take over in six months, can you tell me a little more?’ Or maybe earlier, maybe he’ll take over tomorrow.” said the Liverpool manager.
Who stared deep into the eyes of the journalist and added tense: “That’s the weirdest question I’ve ever been asked.”
Strange, or not. The Xabi Alonso question is going to follow Slot every single match week, especially when the going gets tough.
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