Arne Slot hailed the resilience of his Liverpool side for the way they responded to recent setbacks in their victory over Inter Milan.
Liverpool were victorious without Mo Salah as the Reds beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League thanks to a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty.
Salah was left out of the squad following an outspoken interview in which he said he felt “thrown under the bus” at the club and that he had no relationship with Slot.
“You say everyone makes mistakes in life but then the first thing should be, does the player think he’s made a mistake as well?” Slot told Prime Video Sport, when it was put to him by former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf that “everyone makes mistakes” and that Salah should be reintegrated into the team.
“Then the next question is should the initiative come from me or from him. That’s another question to answer.”
Asked later in his press conference whether that means Salah has to take the initiative and apologise, Slot responded: “No and I’m happy that you ask that question.
“Clarence said that was in his opinion. I didn’t say anything about that, who should make the first step or whatever. It was his opinion so I’m happy I can clarify that, that the headlines tomorrow are not what I’ve said. It was his opinion.
“Where I stand is that tonight should be all about the players that are here. In the rich history that Liverpool has had, they have had many of these evenings but in the season we are in, I think if you have an away win in this stadium, against such a strong team, then it should be about the midfield or about Ibou (Konate) or the ones that are here.
“They deserve all the credit. I can fully understand on Friday that I will get a lot of questions but tonight it should be about the ones that are here.”
“It was really hard for the players to concede in the last minute against Leeds,” Slot also told Prime Video Sport.
“In my opinion, we played a very good game. In the last four games, we’ve hardly conceded a chance. To go away from there with three goals conceded and a draw was really hard to take.
“That was already emotional, and then what happened afterwards was emotional I think as well. It cost maybe a bit of energy.
“The fourth game in ten days with 13 outfield players available that have Premier League or Champions League experience. That shows you the resilience.
“Conceding the 3-3 in extra time is already a big blow after the week we had because we were so close to picking up seven points from three games.
“Then of course there’s a lot of things being said and I think that always effects the team a little bit as well. If you’ve been in the dressing room, you know.
“Okay, it’s about a player with the manager or with the club but that normally effects players a bit as well, especially because he’s been so influential for the club and for the players. It’s never nice to see something happen like this to one of their team-mates.”
Asked if he plans to speak to Salah this week, Slot said: “I think tonight should be about what we’ve done over here in a stadium like this, against Inter and winning.
“All the focus should be on them tonight. I can fully understand if I go on Friday again to the press conference then all the questions will be about Mo but I think these players deserve now that we speak about them.”