Liverpool boss Arne Slot makes ‘almost impossible’ choice between another Premier League title or UEFA Champions League triumph

And his side’s utter dominance in the English top-flight last season has, naturally, garnered hope they can soon return to the summit of European football too.

Slot was reluctant to give a concrete answer when questioned as to whether he would rather win another Premier League title or return the Champions League trophy to Liverpool’s grasp – but McCoist eventually drew a verdict from the Dutchman.

He answered: “If I can only win one, it’s almost impossible, but I would go for the Champions League this time.”

Slot goes into the 2025/26 Champions League campaign hardened to the brutal nature in which the competition washes away teams at will, with Liverpool so dominant in its early stages last season but then suffering a round-of-16 exit to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties.

Statisticians and supercomputers had Liverpool as the firm favourites to lift the title in Munich after they sailed into the knockout stages by finishing top of the league phase, winning seven of their eight matches, and were seen as the real juggernauts of both domestic and continental football.

But PSG – who themselves were coming into a spectacular run of form after a tough start to the season – found a way to limit Slot’s side and take their chances when it mattered, and came off better in the shoot-out lottery to send Liverpool out of the competition in March.

While giving full credit to the Parisian side for their historic European feat, Slot explained why his side may have been at a disadvantage in the last-16 clash.

“I don’t want to take anything away from what they did last season because that was outstanding,” Slot said.

“I think what did help them and what doesn’t help a Premier League club is because we don’t have a winter break.

“Maybe it even helped they played two games against Brest (10-0 aggregate play-off win), so they had a rest period, and then games to peak afterwards.

“In March when they played against us, at that moment in time, they hardly conceded a goal, scored three or four goals every game. They were at their peak level.

“In January that was our best period, but towards March we were struggling a bit in terms of intensity. After the March period, we went up again, but because we lost on penalties we were out (of Europe).”

After a summer of heavy investment in his squad, Slot now has the chance to prove his side can maintain their elite standard throughout the whole season – despite the challenging schedule thrown their way.

Liverpool spent around £446 million during the summer transfer window, breaking their club record twice by signing Florian Wirtz (£100m) and Alexander Isak (£125m) – a British record – as well as bringing in the likes of Hugo Ekitike (£80m), Milos Kerkez (£40m) and Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m).

Slot has spoken about Liverpool’s heavy spending, after forking out just £12.5m for Federico Chiesa last year.

“I can’t blame people who can’t see or understand that we also bring money in, because that’s so exceptional in England, because every club never sells, and only buys!” he told TNT Sports.

“People in England don’t even have an idea that English clubs also sell players. Maybe Chelsea are a little exception because of the amount of players they have, but we didn’t have a big squad last season, and we did sell and brought players in.

“That is such an exception in English football and what I learned from that – what a better idea is – to keep your squad, add £200m and nobody talks about it.

“We brought a few players in (this summer). Unfortunately, we had to bring one player more in than what was the plan (after the passing of Diogo Jota) and that’s why our spending was even higher than intended.”

The Premier League champions will look to retain their perfect record so far this season in Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace.