
There may not be too many ways in which this season is better than last for Liverpool but Arne Slot can at least point to a significant one. Liverpool have gone further in the Champions League, and this was progress in more ways than one.
A quarter-final was booked in emphatic and entertaining fashion. The boos that greeted the final whistle against Tottenham on Sunday were replaced by cheers, the lethargy with which Liverpool have played too often giving way to an energy and intensity. This was frenzied and fast, players and crowd feeding off each other. “There was a great dynamic between the players and fans,” said Slot. “Almost a perfect game.”