Shortly after landing in Spain, the Reds head coach met with reporters at Estadi Montilivi to preview the league’s sixth matchday.

Check out everything Slot had to say on Monday night…

On his assessment of Girona…

I think it’s really special what they’ve done here, especially last season but still this season. I just made the comparison (in another interview) that a few years ago, when they were fighting for the league title, they were on the verge of becoming Leicester City of (Spain). With this budget it probably shows how good a manager Michel is. I think they are doing better than the results suggest this season too, especially in the Champions League. I watched almost every game and apart from the PSV (Eindhoven) game, they were at every game. They were unlucky against Paris Saint-Germain, I think they were a bit unlucky here against my former club Feyenoord when they conceded two own goals and missed a penalty, although Feyenoord also missed one. So they’ve been in every game except PSV Eindhoven and that’s why we need to be at our best tomorrow to get a result here.

On the competition between Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo for the left spot…

It’s a healthy competition between Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo. Our fans have already seen Luis Diaz play as number 9 a few times this season in one or two games. In the last five, six, seven or eight weeks we’ve had four players available for three positions, so we’ve rotated every now and then, mainly on the left wing and the nine positions (and) our right winger has always been Mo Salah up now. They both had a lot of starts, they were both excellent for us – Luis Diaz and Cody – but the other two also did very well. I’m happy about all four, but you’re asking me (specifically) about the Colombian, and I’ve been really happy with Luis Diaz since I’ve been here. Excellent work rate, great threat, great footwork, can score goals, so a very special player for us.

Whether there is any significance in finishing first in the Champions League group…

It’s so difficult to say anything about it. I’ve said it many times, but the end of the season is the best way to judge it – whether it’s helpful to finish in the top eight, whether it’s helpful to finish No. 1. Of course, finishing in the top eight seems really helpful, but if you play your starters every time, which we’ve almost always done so far, then you need the results too. We try to do this to be in the highest possible position initially, but also to skip the next round. If that ends up meaning that we always play in the starting XI, skip this round and still have a very difficult draw, then maybe next season we will think differently about what we do in the group stage. We’ll have to wait and see at the end of the season where this will take us. Firstly, we want to stay in the top eight and so we think we need a win – and the first chance we have is tomorrow night.