Arne Slot says Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard would now make his Champions League dream team - although he would have missed out a year ago.
Slot, 46, became the club's new head coach in the summer after Jurgen Klopp called time on his hugely successful Anfield tenure. The former Feyenoord chief has hit the ground running, too, with Liverpool currently top of the Premier League.
The Reds have also made a perfect start in Europe after beating AC Milan and Bologna in their opening two matches of the revamped Champions League. They do, however, have tricky fixtures against RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen to negotiate after the international break.
Ahead of their trip to Leipzig later this month, Slot was put on the spot and asked to pick a dream team based off players who have starred in Europe's premier competition. And there was a place for Anfield royalty in his star-studded team.
“If you had asked me this a year ago, I would have probably said Iniesta, but I think now I am going to go for Steven Gerrard, being the Liverpool manager,” Slot told Amazon Prime Video.
“Why he might deserve to be in my team is that the other ones, like Iniesta and like Zinedine Zidane, they played with incredible teammates, and, of course, Steven Gerrard played with good to really good teammates.
“But I don’t think he played with the same level of players that Iniesta or Zidane played with. And then still being so special for the club, winning, lifting the trophy once, playing for so long for this club.”
Intriguingly, Gerrard was heavily fancied to succeed Klopp at the helm after making a fine start to his managerial career with Rangers in Scotland. A poor spell at Aston Villa put an end to those chances, though, with the former England star now working in Saudi Arabia.
Prior to his Aston Villa exit, Klopp predicted that the legendary midfielder, who won the Champions League with his beloved Reds, would one day be in the Anfield hot seat.
Klopp said previously when asked: “I think it will definitely happen. And good for everybody! When is the right moment to take the job?
“Not to say that he's not able to do it, but how long you want to do it. Is it the last job you do? The second job, third job you do?”