Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk agree as Liverpool changes should mean Champions League boost

If you were to ask Arne Slot to name some of the key moments of last season, he would pretty quickly say the names of two teams that got the better of Liverpool: Nottingham Forest, and Paris Saint-Germain.

For a while, Nuno Espirito Santo's side stuck in his head, but that early defeat to Forest at Anfield in September eventually looked different in the context of their excellent season. Likewise, losing to eventual Champions League victor PSG was no disgrace.

Liverpool sets a high bar, however, and this time — fuelled by a strong summer in the transfer market — the aim is go further in Europe in addition to retaining the Premier League title.

In March, Liverpool went out in the last-16, but was extremely unfortunate to run into PSG having topped the group phase of the Champions League. When it lost the Carabao Cup final a few days later, it was a difficult week.

"Of course, we have a lot of desire for winning trophies this season again," goalkeeper Alisson Becker told reporters ahead of the return of UEFA's top competition.

"In the Premier League last season was great; we know how special it is to win the Champions League. The players who did it in 2019 had that feeling and we want to have the feeling again.

"The new players they have full desire to win the trophies that we have in front of us, not only the Champions League and the Premier League but the cups as well.

"We are going to try and fight for every trophy. But of course, the Champions League is a big target for us."

"[Last season's PSG defeat is] long gone," Virgil van Dijk says. "Obviously, back then, I was very disappointed. It maybe helps a little bit because they won the Champions League.

"But it is a new season, and we are really looking forward to Wednesday. They (Atletico Madrid) knocked us out of the Champions League back in 2020.

"It was a very disappointing night as well, but it's obviously different times. I'm really looking forward to it, and we have a duty to be absolutely ready."

After speaking regularly about Nottingham Forest before the Champions League exit, for the rest of the campaign, Slot then switched his attention to the PSG clash as a tie that could have gone differently. Though Liverpool went out only on penalties, that far from told the story of the preceding 210 minutes — particularly the first 90, where the Reds were thoroughly outplayed.

The signings of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz since then (the former could debut on Wednesday) have upgraded the Liverpool starting XI, however, and there is perhaps only PSG in the whole tournament this time around that can be considered a stronger favorite on paper.

"[Challenging on two fronts is] what we hope for," Van Dijk says. "If everyone stays fit and looks after themselves, making sure they are in the best shape — physically, mentally, and in form — that's what we aim for.

"That is the responsibility that we all have to feel. I feel it and the other players should feel it as well.

"What I do know is that the additions that we made, they are quality additions, without a doubt. It's not additions, it's replacements because we let a lot of quality leave as well.

"So everyone has a role to play this season. You have to be ready and fit and in the best shape for when you are called upon. You have to be in your best form, and that is the responsibility that everyone has. Everyone has to push each other."

"It is difficult to talk now about [the PSG loss]," Alisson adds. "At the time, we were so focused on the Premier League, and it is hard to play in two big competitions at the same time.

"But apparently we have the quality to do that. I think we had the quality at the time; we could do better. The first game, we didn’t do so well [against PSG]; we didn't deserve the win, but we won in the end.

"In the second game, we played better, but they have quality, and they showed their quality by winning the Champions League. But also, we had the feeling we could do better.

"Of course, if you say if we had beaten PSG we would have won the Champions League then that is not true, we respect the competition a lot. We know that from our side, we could do much better, and this is what we will try to do this season."

Isak, Wirtz and the likes of Hugo Ekitike and Milos Kerkez have improved Liverpool, though the four wins so far have all come late, and there is still work to be done for everything to look coherent.

"It takes time for all the players to adapt to a new style of play, a new competition, and everyone knows how physical and intense the Premier League is," Alisson explains.

"For the new players coming in, they have to adapt to that as well, but their qualities are unbelievable, and you know they are capable of doing that.

"You can see in the Premier League that so many games are decided in the last minutes, either scoring or trying to not concede to keep your clean sheet as well. So, it is really important for us to have players with that kind of mentality who never give up."

That has certainly applied domestically so far this season, with late winners against Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Arsenal and then Burnley.

While nothing can be won or lost in terms of the Champions League group phase this week, a victory over Atletico Madrid would be the first step towards going one better on the European front this time around.