Arne had former star endured a tough return to Anfield with Bayer Leverkusen.

The German champion managed to hold Liverpool at bay for just over an hour before the Reds took control in the last 30 minutes, securing a 4-0 victory. netted three times and added his fourth goal of the week, leaving Alonso stunned.

Despite the defeat, the 2005 winner's name was still chanted by Liverpool fans towards the end of the match. This loss marks only the third in 69 matches under Alonso's management, but the Spaniard remained gracious in defeat post-match.

After Slot completed an interview with Amazon Prime Video, he ran into Alonso who was on his way for his own chat with the broadcaster. The pair were seen having a lengthy conversation, with Alonso accepting his team's defeat gracefully.

"It can happen that you come to Anfield and lose," Alonso said. "To lose 4-0 is not nice. They are a top, top team and they punished us. It was a pity we couldn't hold 1-0 for 15 to 20 minutes. They did it against Brighton, they did it against us.

"We were ready to come here and give our best. We did okay for some part but the game changed in 20 minutes. Liverpool are strong. We lacked some power and consistency. Defeat, accept it, congratulate Liverpool and move on.

"I will try to separate the game and the pain from the result to the feelings of coming back and having love. I'm really thankful to have that reception.

"It's early to tell but I can see that Liverpool have a very good balance, a very complete team. They work the 11 players and they have the power to hold a clean sheet which is important in the Champions League. In the Premier League, let's see. It's early to tell but it's looking good."

Speaking about his team's increase in tempo, Slot commented: "I don't know if it was that much to do with intensity but we took more risk. They overloaded the midfield a lot and we adjusted a half-tine and took the risk to play one v one all over. We had better chances in the first half and they weren't a goal threat.

"As much as this time, how good they are in Europe, sometimes a strong target man is better than someone a bit faster. Curtis Jones did an incredible pass and then you have someone with the pace of Lucho to finish it off. The pass was as good as the goal in my opinion.

"You don't look ahead as a manager at the next three months. You're always one game at a time. We've got Aston Villa on Saturday, another tough game."