The Reds boss has a personal motive for guiding his team to the showpiece as he has never been to the world-famous venue as either a manager or supporter.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool's semi-final second leg against Tottenham, in which they must overturn a 1-0 deficit, on Thursday (06.02.25): "It cannot be underestimated. Maybe some of these players are already used to Wembley, but it would be my first time to go to Wembley. If you go to England people are talking about Wembley as an iconic stadium, especially if it's a final. So you can be sure that we as a team want to win that game to go to Wembley."

The Carabao Cup provides Slot with his first opportunity to win silverware as Liverpool boss but the coach doesn't want to judge himself solely on trophies.

The Dutch manager said: "In life, it's not only about winning trophies. I have to steal something Jurgen (Klopp) said. It is also very important that the fans leave the stadium thinking: ‘When do they play again?’

"I like that sentence a lot because I would love us as managers being judged more on that than only on trophies. How do they play? Is it nice to watch them? Are the fans looking forward to the next game already?

"I agree that we are more mostly judged on the trophies we win, but I judge myself and the players on work rate and the quality they bring during every single game. Jurgen was so unlucky that he played against [Manchester] City and over 90 points was not enough [to win the Premier League in 2018-19 and 2021-22]. How can that happen?"