Arne Slot reveals tactical masterplan that kept Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior quiet in Liverpool's UEFA Champions League win over Real Madrid

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Arne Slot cut a hugely content figure in his post-match press conference having seen his Liverpool team turn in a fine display to see off Real Madrid at a thronging Anfield. It had the feel of a European Clasico, with star quality on both sides - and Slot pointed out just how much consideration he had given to Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior in his pre-match preparation.

Highlights: Mac Allister goal sees Reds beat Real, Alexander-Arnold booed

Video credit: TNT Sports

Liverpool boss Arne Slot revealed the extent to which he prepared his players for the twin threat of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior before taking on Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Anfield was ablaze as the two European heavyweights went toe-to-toe, with the considerable added emotion of Trent Alexander-Arnold returning to his former club for the first time.

Despite some Thibaut Courtois heroics, Slot's men found the only goal of the game in the second half through Alexis Mac Allister's header, and kept Madrid quiet thereafter, to the delight of their fans.

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In his post-match press conference, Slot shared the key tactical tweak he used to negate superstar attackers Mbappe and Vinicius.

"I told the players today that I wanted them to either press really high or go to a low block because Vinicius and Mbappe are - for so many reasons - incredible players, but their timing of deep runs, their pace is next level," the Liverpool boss said.

"So don't give away any space in behind, and that's what our last line did very well."

The stats bore out Slot's assessment, with just one fast break between the pair, and not a single shot on target from them across the night.

Stat	Mbappe	Vinicius
Fast breaks	1	0
Touches in the opp. box	4	9
Shots on target	0	0

With Mbappe and Vinicius often operating from the left, one man who was crucial in keeping the pair quiet was Reds right-back Conor Bradley.

The Northern Irishman ended the evening with a 100% tackle success rate, and was consummate in 1v1 situations against his illustrious opponents.

Slot added his praise for Bradley, and the Dutchman said he warned his whole team beforehand just how lethal Mbappe and Vinicius can be.

"Conor was outstanding," Slot said. "Last season he was outstanding against Real Madrid but he had to go off after 80 [87] minutes because of an injury.

"And now three days after he played 90 minutes against Aston Villa, again he played 90 minutes with an incredible intensity against Vinicius.

"I told the players before the game they [Real Madrid] have scored 26 goals in La Liga, and Mbappe and Vinicius have 24 goal contributions together.

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Video credit: SNTV

"So if you want to have any chance of winning a game you should defend your set-pieces well, because that's a way teams score.

"But great individuals can score goals as well, and these two definitely can. Conor defended very good against Vinicius."

Slot added: "I didn't even tell them [his players] that in the Champions League he [Mbappe] scored two goals against Marseille and three against Kairat.

"I don't think you can ever control these two completely, but you can do a few things well.

"But I even saw today - the biggest chance they got was when Vinicius played the ball towards Bellingham, because they have more than only these two, they have all very good players.

"And it is difficult to control them completely because Mbappe was more than a few times in dangerous zones. But I think we did almost the maximum you can do against these two individuals."

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