Every word Arne Slot said on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid

Liverpool will be aiming to make the perfect start to its Champions League campaign on Wednesday - although that certainly won't be an easy task for Arne Slot's side against Atletico Madrid.

Diego Simeone's side is the first to visit Anfield in the competition this season, and will no doubt pose a tough test for the Reds, who have been placed among the favorites to claim a seventh European crown.

Ahead of tomorrow's game, Slot spoke to the media at his pre-match press conference, where he addressed a number of topics, including Alexander Isak's expected debut, and Florian Wirtz's start to the season.

Here is every word the Liverpool head coach said ahead of facing Atletico Madrid...

Will Isak make his debut?

“There is definitely a chance because he is in the squad, then there is a chance to play. Normally, I would say 99.9 per cent sure, but I can say it is 100 percent sure he will not play 90 minutes.

“But he is part of the squad. It is already a Champions League game to look forward to, but if people look forward to his playing time, that could mean that could happen tomorrow as well.”

Could he start?

“The only thing that is sure is that he will not play 90, and all the rest we will see tomorrow.”

On Wirtz's tricky start

"I put that down to Bournemouth. I put that down to Newcastle. I put that down to Arsenal. I put that down to a team we faced this weekend that only conceded 14 goals last season. If it's correct, I don't know, but someone told me today that's the first time in 18 months that Burnley lost a home game... but it tells you how hard it is to play these games, which is normal.

"There's so much focus on our new signings, especially the pundits that favour other clubs! They cannot stop talking about 450 million... but they always forget the 300 million that we've sold for!

"These players that we've brought in are indeed a lot of money, but they are playing now together with players that are worth the same amount of money. Yes, if we want to strengthen the squad we need almost to spend that much money... if we sell Dominik Szoboszlai tomorrow he would be worth 100 million as well.

"There's so much focus on Florian, but the ones that have stayed behind still in the team haven't scored four goals or 12 assists as well. He's been part of a team that is on top of the league and that won four games. He's part of the team that won against Newcastle, that won against Arsenal, where the team last season didn't win away at Newcastle and didn't win at home against Arsenal. It's the way you want to look at it. Yes, he hasn't scored four goals or 12 assists in four games - but for me, that's down to the quality we faced. He's part of a team that is number one in the league at the moment."

On Liverpool's start to the season

"I think we are far above my expectations [from] during the summer. We all know what happened this summer. We all knew when the schedule came out that we had to face Newcastle away, Arsenal at home and Bournemouth at home and it turned out to be a difficult one at Burnley as well. I expected it but not in the fashion that it happened on Sunday.

"For us to be on 12 points now is so much more than I expected, especially after we've had so many changes in the group as well. I think we can do better. But we're not every time going to face Newcastle away and Arsenal at home."

On facing Atletico Madrid

"When I was at Feyenoord in the Eredivisie you knew when you went from a Sunday to a Wednesday you had to make two steps up, unless you played Ajax or PSV on the weekend. If you play in the Premier league it is either the same quality you face or a little step up.

"Yes, it's again a very difficult one because Atletico Madrid have done so well in La Liga over so many years with Diego Simeone. They were even able to win the league twice when you face Real Madrid and Barcelona and they have been twice in the final of the Champions League.

"This is a team that is a difficult one to play against because of the mentality and because of their team performance and because of their individual quality. The last time I faced them I still wake up sometimes at night - it's maybe not true! - but thinking about [Antoine] Griezmann and how good he was in that game. I think we lost 3-1, I'm not exactly sure, but he was outstanding in that game. The good thing now is that in my team I have players that can do similar things than Griezmann can do. I loved my players at Feyenoord a lot as well, but at that moment in time and in that moment of their career they were not able to compete with Griezmann on that night."

On his side's mentality

"Everybody is very focused on us winning the games late on but that has a lot to do with the teams we faced as well. Of course, it has a bit to do with how fit we are and that we can always keep on going and make the difference in the last part of the game. But if you face maybe teams that are not as strong, you are able to win the game a bit earlier. It probably also tells you how difficult our schedule has been in the first few games for us to need to win it in the end.

"Then people will tell me, 'What are you talking about? You've played Burnley as well.' But this team only conceded 14 goals last season in the whole season. I'm very happy with where we are, especially because, I don't know if everyone knows what I mean with that, but I think everyone does, with what a summer we have been through. I am not talking about selling players or bringing players in. I think we all know what I am talking about.

"Then to be here with 12 points after such a difficult start in terms of the teams we have faced is more than expected. We know and we want to do better but I also wanted to do better last season... that's why we are on the training pitch each day and in team meetings to make the team better."

On Andy Robertson's performance vs Burnley

"He had a very good impact. Milos [Kerkez] started the game well but we had to take him off, so then it was such a nice thing that you then have Andy Robertson to replace him. He came into the team like he had never been doing anything else and started to play with his teammates. It was a difficult game for us, so I don’t think anyone played brilliantly well - but he definitely played well and it’s good to have him in the squad, that’s for sure."

His thoughts on the new Champions League format after last season

"It’s not a smart thing to do to judge something on one event because if I judged it on one event I would say it's tough and no interest if you end up number one or number seven or number eight because we had a very difficult draw [in the last 16 against Paris Saint-Germain]. The number 11, Real Madrid, had to play number 22, which was Man City.

"What I like about this draw is tonight I will go home after this press conference, I am in front of the television and I am looking at which game is going to come up because there is always going to be a nice game because there can be a pot one team that plays a pot one team. In the past, it was always pot one to pot two, three or four. So, that is the nice part of it.

"What I don’t like about this format is if - like in NBA and everywhere where has a league table and then you play play-offs, you [don't] have a league table after everyone has played the same teams. So if you then have a number one then probably the number eight is weaker than the number five. But now there are teams that come from pot four that have an easier draw than teams that are from pot one. So, this whole league table doesn't give the real opinion about who is good and who isn't. Then, it can happen like last season that the number 11, Real Madrid, can play the number 22, who were Man City. It is not like Man City did something so bad - they had to face a difficult draw and it is the same like Paris Saint-Germain.

"If you look at the draw of Paris Saint-Germain this season it is the same as last season. So, if you'd asked me this question immediately after we lost to Paris Saint-Germain, I'd have told you forget about the first eight games, but now I’ve used my brains a bit more and I tell you don't judge the new format on the first time, judge is after three or four times and let's see. Maybe the next three times the number one in the league table will have a favourable draw, but that was definitely not the situation last season."

Is he frustrated or optimistic after last season's defeat to PSG?

"A bit of both, maybe, because we were so close. I think Luis Enrique said before when he sat here, the team that wins this play-off is going to win the tournament - and he was right. That's not to say it would have happened with us [winning the tournament] as well, but in the end he was right. It tells you that we were a team – we were the only team – that could bring them to extra-time and the only team that could bring them to penalties. It was a frustration to lose it with penalties.

"But if you are out, what I feel, if I am out I prefer to go out to the team that wins it in the end because that tells you if you can bring them so far, it is a bit too simple to say we weren't that far off winning it as well, but we felt that was the best team in Europe last season - and I think everyone agrees with that. They won the French league, they won the cup, they went to the Club World Cup and were very close to winning that as well. So, it’s fair to say they were the best team in Europe last season.

"That we were so close to beating them gives us the confidence that we are able to compete in this tournament as well, but even if we had lost two times 4-0, I would still tell you now Liverpool will always be able to compete in the Champions League."

Will Dominik Szoboszlai return to midfield after Jeremie Frimpong's return?

"Conor Bradley is fit again as well. But we also have four very good midfielders fit as well: Endo, Mac Allister, Dominik and Florian. Curtis is not fit. In every position we have a lot of competition. [Dominik] can play in both positions and let’s see if he plays tomorrow, where he is going to play."

What is Isak's biggest challenge?

"Getting fit. Getting fit after missing out four months of proper team sessions. He doesn’t have to prove to anyone that he is good enough to play in the Premier League because that’s what he’s proven already at Newcastle. So, the main challenge he has is to become so fit that he is first of all ready to do what he did last season, and then, speaking about Paris Saint-Germain, I don’t think anyone is surprised that I was mainly impressed by the way they press.

"So, double-press. And that is what [Ousmane] Dembele was one of the examples [of] that was so outstanding in his pressing game. So, everybody is focused on Paris Saint-Germain about all the goals they score, but I was mainly impressed by the way they pressed. So, the moment he is fit and match-fit and can play 90, the next step is playing three times in a week 90 minutes, and then the next step is going one step further in terms of pressing. And that’s what he has to do. Then, scoring goals and doing special things in attack, that is something he will 100 per cent surely do."

Does Liverpool's spending make it the favorite for the Champions League?

"I think it is only a compliment. I think it is only a compliment that people tell everyone that we’ve spent so much, because that tells you that the players we’ve brought in are seen as very good players.

"I’m for a part responsible of bringing the players in, together with some other people, and I think we should see this is a compliment that everybody is like, ‘Wow, they did great business.’ And I think we did. We brought in great players and to add to that, we already lowered the age of the players. So, some other teams prefer to bring in 27-year-olds because they are already bam, ready. But we think we have brought in players [of] 21, 22 that are ready but also 21, 22.

"Then if they are four or five years with you, you can still sell Luis Diaz for 80 million. But if he would have been 28 [when he joined Liverpool], I think it’s harder to sell him for 80 million if he’s 32. So, that’s our model and I think that model should get a lot of praise. I have said it here in England once or twice and I can say it one more time to you as well: all the money we’ve spent we generated ourselves by selling and winning the league after we didn’t buy anyone at all. If you win the league it is quite good financially as well.

"Those two situations led to the fact that we could spend 450 million. It wasn’t as if we looked in the ground and saw, ‘Oh, there is money coming up, let’s spend 450!’ No, we have generated [it] ourselves and I think that is a big compliment for the model we have and for the quality players we have brought in, that everybody is only talking about the 450 we have spent. And, we are always, that’s not a surprise to you if you are Liverpool [or] if you are an English club playing in the Champions League, you belong to one of the favourites."

Did Milos Kerkez react well to his early substitution?

"Yeah, although you never know when they are sitting in front of me or when I have my team meeting, they don’t stand up and say, ‘I disagree with you.’ But maybe when he is at home and is talking to his father or his girlfriend or his friends he is like, ‘What a stupid decision this was.’ But when I am around, he comes across as if he understood it.

"And I have shown yesterday, because that wasn’t maybe clear for every player, you could see after he made the foul – which you could argue if it was a foul or not but the referee blew his whistle – I highlighted that six of their players went over to the referee and the referee made twice a signal like, ‘No, this is not a yellow card for me.’

"For me it was like, hmm, you could even argue if it was a foul or not and it is already necessary to tell everyone in the stadium it was definitely not a yellow? What will happen if he makes a normal foul which is normally another reason for a yellow? So for me, [it was] that combination.

"If their players wouldn’t have gone to the referee, if he wouldn’t have made this [signal], I would have at least kept him on until half-time. But I felt, also the atmosphere in the stadium – smart from their fans, by the way, on every decision they were on top of the referee – I felt if he only touches him once, he’s under a lot of pressure not to give him this yellow. That’s what I tried to explain. Again, he said he understood but I don’t know what he says to his friends about it! But to me he says he understood."