LIVERPOOL: Liverpool manager Arne Slot thanked Everton for the support they showed their Merseyside rivals after Diogo Jota’s tragic death in July.
Jota died at the age of 28 in a car accident in Spain, plunging Liverpool into mourning just weeks after they celebrated winning the Premier League title.
The Portuguese’s final goal came in the last Merseyside derby in a 1-0 Liverpool win in April.
Everton make the trip back to Anfield on Saturday and on Friday Slot took the opportunity to praise the respect between the clubs despite their intense rivalry.
“They are a good team and there is rivalry but what I also liked and what I want to emphasize is — what they did when Diogo passed away,” he told reporters on Friday.
“They showed their respect and in these moments of time, it is so nice to see that in tragedies that the rivalry is still there but the respect to both is still there.”
Despite cruising to the title last season, Liverpool transformed their squad with a record spend of nearly £450 million ($612 million) for an English club in one transfer window.
The scale of change has shown in some disjointed performances from Slot’s men, but they have still managed to win all five of their Premier League and Champions League games so far thanks to late winners in every match.
“I prefer the situation of winning the games and pointing out that we can still improve things, compared to losing games,” added Slot.
The Dutch coach is confident that his new signings will have no problem adjusting to the intensity of the Merseyside derby thanks to their previous experience of big games at club and international level.
“For the new ones it is not for the first time that they play in circumstances where there are a lot of rivalries and intensity in the game,” he said.
“The focus should be on the rivalry but it should also be on what we need to do to win the game and that is being intense, that is winning the duels and that is also playing good on the ball and when we don’t have the ball.”
Alexander Isak made his Liverpool debut in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid after his British transfer record £125 million move from Newcastle.
Slot said the Swede “felt his body more than ever” afterwards having missed most of pre-season attempting to force through his exit from St. James’ Park, with Hugo Ekitike expected to come back in for Isak on Saturday.
Slot thanks Everton for solidarity after Jota tragedy
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Slot thanks Everton for solidarity after Jota tragedy
- Everton make the trip back to Anfield on Saturday and on Friday Slot took the opportunity to praise the respect between the clubs
- “They showed their respect and in these moments of time, it is so nice to see that in tragedies that the rivalry is still there but the respect to both is still there“
Substitute Kane scores hat-trick in Bayern’s 5-0 demolition of hosts Stuttgart
- The Bavarians were a goal up but struggling against the aggressive hosts until the introduction of Kane
- Bayern were lucky to go into the break with a one-goal lead thanks to Konrad Laimer
STUTTGART: Bundesliga top scorer Harry Kane scored a hat-trick after coming on as second-half substitute to guide Bayern Munich to a 5-0 victory over hosts VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
The Bavarians, who have opened up an 11-point lead at the top, were a goal up but struggling against the aggressive hosts until the introduction of Kane on the hour mark. Stuttgart were also left with 10 men for the last 10 minutes following the dismissal of Lorenz Assignon.
Bayern, who host Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday, were lucky to go into the break with a one-goal lead thanks to Konrad Laimer’s 11th minute strike.
Stuttgart first saw Nikolas Nartey’s header that went in ruled narrowly offside and Chema also came agonizingly close to scoring in stoppage time.
Deniz Undav, who has scored six of Stuttgart’s last eight goals as he battles to reclaim his Germany spot ahead of next year’s World Cup, came even closer with a powerful shot in the 59th that Bayern keeper Jonas Urbig tipped over the bar.
The introduction of Kane , however, tipped the balance in the visitors’ favor and the England captain opened his account with a crisp, low drive in the 66th.
Stuttgart keeper Alexander Nuebel then let Bayern substitute Josip Stanisic’ weak shot slip through his hands to make it 3-0 and to make matters worse, Bayern earned an 80th minute penalty following a handball and red card for Assignon, and Kane easily converted it.
The forward completed his hat-trick from a Michael Olize cutback in the 88th to take his league tally to 17 goals and lift the Bundesliga leaders to 37 points, 11 ahead of second-placed RB Leipzig, in action against Eintracht Frankfurt later.
