ReactionArne Slot press conference: Bournemouth win, Jota tributes, Chiesa and more
Arne Slot described Liverpool's 4-2 victory over AFC Bournemouth as a 'great' Premier League game – and paid tribute to the powerful way supporters remembered Diogo Jota at Anfield.
The Reds secured a dramatic three points from their opening top-flight fixture of 2025-26, which was their first competitive home match since the tragic passing of Jota and his brother, Andre Silva.
A pair of late goals from substitute Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah ultimately earned the win, with the efforts coming in minutes 88 and 90+4 respectively.
Hugo Ekitike had earlier scored on his league debut in the first half, while Cody Gakpo doubled the lead shortly after the half-time interval.
Antoine Semenyo, however, produced a double for the visiting Cherries to leave the game level entering the final exchanges, before the late strikes by Chiesa and Salah.
Read on for head coach Slot's reflections on the fixture as he spoke to the media during a post-match press conference...
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On how he sums up his emotions from the game…
If you have half an hour [I can explain how I feel]! But the main emotion should be how impressive and powerful the tribute for Diogo was. The banner the Kop showed, the way You'll Never Walk Alone was sung, the way they sung for Diogo before the game, in the first minute, after 20 minutes and at the end of the game. It was all so, so impressive and so powerful and that is, I think, what my main emotion is after the game. Then, there was even a game that ended in 4-2 where a lot of things happened.
On a dramatic end with Chiesa getting on the scoresheet…
After the fans sung for him so many times during the game already and last season as well, I think it is very nice for him to give them something in return – and that's definitely what he did today. [It was] an unbelievable atmosphere in the final minutes. I thought winning the league here would always be more special than winning a home game against Bournemouth, but the last six or seven minutes… wow. Wow, wow, wow. How impressive that was.
Great game, three teams involved in a great game. You'll ask me why three. Of course, Bournemouth and us playing full gas for 96 minutes or even longer, 99 I think, and the referee that just kept the game going and didn't blow his whistle every single time for every small thing. I think it was a great game to watch. In the end we won it, so that helps for my emotions, but I think this is what you would like to see. I have said many times last season about our Paris Saint-Germain game and we can't compare a last-16 game with a first game of football [of the season] in the Premier League in terms of importance, but it was similar. Both teams, all in, high intensity, never gave up both teams and then get a game like this, with a good referee by the way.
On whether Chiesa's future is at Liverpool…
As long as he is here he is definitely at Liverpool and I have no reason to believe something is going to change. He's had a hard time last season, getting his match fitness ready. Unfortunately for him, he missed out on our Asia tour as well, so then you miss quite a lot, but not only him – Joe Gomez the same and we've lost Conor Bradley. So, all my substitutions were also related to players who probably couldn't go for 90 minutes. Federico, when we needed him, I brought him in. At 2-2 you need your No.9, we brought him in and he delivered and that's always positive for your future at the club.
On why he thinks supporters have taken to Chiesa so well…
That's difficult for me to tell you because although I am also a fan of this club I am never standing on the Kop and I don't come up with these songs. The only thing I can come up with maybe is that Federico had a great history, he was a big player deciding to go from Italy to England. You don't see it that much, players from Italy going to England. I don't know – maybe it's also a nice song to sing! But then I probably don't give him the credit he deserves. I cannot give you the exact answer but that might have something to do with it. He had a very important goal in England for his national team. Maybe our fans remember that.
On the first-half incident involving Semenyo…
I think it is under investigation with the police now and the club made a very clear statement about what we feel about this. Unfortunately, we definitely have to talk about this, it's a good thing you talk about this and it's a good thing that I have to answer this, but after actually this day should be about Diogo and about how the tribute was. But we definitely need to address this because it's unacceptable in every football stadium, let alone at Anfield. I spoke to him [Semenyo] after the game that we will try to do everything to find that person. I am not 100 per cent sure but I think they already found him. That's a good thing.
Wherever we can help him we will try to do so. Big credit to him, if something happens like this and you can perform so well in the second half then he's not only a great player, because that I can see [with] how fast he is, but he is also very strong mentally. If something like that happened [and] to get such a second-half performance, that sums up him as a person and him as a player. But, again, [it's] unacceptable in football in general, let alone at Anfield.
On how Salah is feeling after his reaction at full-time…
I am not sure because I didn't ask him. I actually didn't want to go in after the game because I found it so special how our fans reacted today and how they kept on singing at the end of the game for Diogo. I think the whole day and the whole game is, every time you think you cannot expect more from Liverpool fans they top this or they overperform. Again, what a tribute and I think Mo felt after the game how special that was and probably he felt the emotion.
We all knew his family is here, his wife is here, and his children are here. For them it might be special to hear how much he is loved over here and with the fans and the banner and what they did. But we also feel the emotions of how much grief they still have. That mixed emotions maybe led to Mo being emotional and I think I felt the same without being in tears, but I definitely felt the same emotions.
On Bournemouth's two goals and what went wrong in those moments…
Not a lot. Normally you can complain about our players not sprinting back hard enough, but they did. The only thing you need to do better – but it's in an ideal world – is where do you lose the ball? The first ball there is something I can say about that, losing the ball with a trick if you're 2-0 up is not necessary, maybe if you're 1-0 down or you really need a goal and you want to force something. But in that moment I think it's not the way to lose the ball like Dominik [Szoboszlai] did.
The second goal, we are a team that likes to attack. We are a team that wants to score goals. Rest defence was in order the moment we lost the ball, we were two-v-one against their number nine, but instead of what Mo usually does, which is getting a cross in or getting a shot in, he squared it just behind. Then give credit to the other team with how many bodies they sprinted to our 18-yard box. It's fine margins and the best way is to not lose the ball and if you do lose it then lose it with a shot or it ends up in a corner kick or in a goal-kick. Bot do not lose it at your own 18-yard line or where Dominik lost it. But I always judge how hard do they sprint back and in both situations they sprint back really hard. They gave it all but credit to Bournemouth, who are a very, very fit team as well like us, because we managed to come back after the 2-2.