Arne Slot believes there was no better place to take charge of his 100th match for Liverpool than in the Champions League against Galatasaray.
Slot, who replaced Jurgen Klopp at Anfield back in 2024, celebrates a century of games for the Reds at RAMS Park in the first leg of their last 16 clash on Tuesday.
The Dutchman has won 62 of the 99 games he has overseen so far for Liverpool, though 13 of his 22 defeats have come in an underwhelming second season at the club.
However, the Reds have impressed in the Champions League in 2025-26, finishing third in the league phase to automatically qualify for the last 16 of the competition.
And ahead of a trip to Turkiye, Slot took the time to reflect on his time on Merseyside so far.
“First of all, it makes me really proud that I become the Liverpool manager and that it is going to be my 100th game,” Slot told reporters.
“I don’t think I have a bad track record in those 100 games. Although sometimes, you get a different feeling about that if I have to listen to everything!
“But it makes me proud, and it’s nice that the 100th game is such a nice game to play – Champions League last 16, away game against Galatasaray.
“As always, it’s never about the manager, it’s always about the players. I’ll try to prepare them just as good as all the other 99 games I’ve done before.
“But it’s always the players who have to then perform, and I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been given a very good team in both seasons, last season and this season.
“I have all the trust that these players will perform at the levels that we are used to from a Liverpool team.”
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Liverpool have never won in three previous away games at Galatasaray in the Champions League (D1 L2), only visiting Chelsea more without winning in the competition (five).
In addition, the Reds have won just one of five previous meetings with Galatasaray in UEFA’s flagship competition (D2 L2), which accumulates to a win rate of just 20%.
Indeed, it is their joint-lowest against any side they have faced 5+ times in the competition (also 20% v Chelsea).
“We’ve already lost to Galatasaray so that tells you a lot. Now, the good thing is we have experienced this once already,” Slot said of facing Galatasaray.
“That helps. For us, it was new. The whistling is so loud when we have the ball. We don’t just play the fans, we play 11 good players.
“[Victor] Osimhen is a great striker, can score in multiple ways but they have a lot.
[Baris Alpar] Yilmaz was too fast for us twice in the first half, so a lot of offensive threat and pace. We need to be aware of that and we will be.”
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has been ruled out of the first leg through injury, though Slot revealed that he could be back for the visit of Tottenham at the weekend.
Alisson sustained the issue in a training session, and has already missed nine games in all competitions this term. Giorgi Mamardashvili will replace him in between the sticks.
Slot also confirmed that Federico Chiesa was not among the travelling party, with the Italian struck by illness.
“Federico [Chiesa] felt unwell last night, that’s why he wasn’t training,” Slot told reporters. “Alisson was in the session, but he felt something towards the end of the session.
“People looked at it, and he decided, and we decided it wasn’t good enough to travel. There’s definitely a chance for Sunday. It’s not a big thing but too much for tomorrow.
“There’s definitely a chance [of playing against Tottenham], yes, because we don’t expect it to be a big thing. But it was too much to be available for tomorrow.”