Arne Slot is at a moving distance of immortality.
You may not know when observing the cool, calm and collected attitude that he often – but not always, as can be seen in Goodison Park last month.
Slot himself may not know. The schedule has been ruthless: 28 games since the last international break as early as November 18 already in 2025. So the manager thinks about football from the moment he wakes up, may not have had time to pause for reflection.
Next Monday he can finally do that – without two weeks without a competition.
When he takes the short flight home to his family home in Zwolle, he can very well be struck by the sudden realization that he is a Carabao Cup winner, about to win the Premier League at a canter and maybe he will also be a European champion.
If he only wins the title here, this is still one of the best debut seasons that the Premier League has ever seen. Standing in the shadow of the large Jurgen Klopp, with only one new signing – the less spotted Federico Chiesa – felt a top four finish as par for the course.
But if he all wins the trophies? That will be one of the biggest coaching campaigns that we have ever seen in football, full stop … let alone debut seasons or English football.
The next six days determines where this campaign will be in the record books. Young boys and girls at Anfield who might get their first taste for football can talk about their own children and grandchildren this season when they are old and gray.
First standing on the road of Liverpool are Paris Saint-Germain, demonstrably second as only Slot's side as the best team in Europe this season. The Reds give a shock 1-0 lead in this second stage after what was described by the French newspaper L'Equipe as a 'English robbery'.
Then on Sunday they will travel to London to play Newcastle or what is left of the men of Eddie Howe in the midst of a terribly timed injury and suspension crisis and watching the Carabao Cup in the Wembley-final.
Slot is on the shoulders of giants and writes all his name in the history books in this legendary old club. It could be the best season for Liverpool since 1984, when Joe Fagan won the competition, European Cup and Milk Cup.
So is Slot dreaming itself? “No, in a week like this I don't dream at all,” he said on Monday evening. 'I just know that I really have to work very hard to prepare the team in the best possible way. That's what I try to do in every game.
'If you have a game like we did last week, you have the feeling:' Can I even go to sleep completely? Or do I have to look even more (analysis)? “So no, I'm not dreaming about this week at the moment. We are simply focused on what we should do in the game.
'The week started very well in terms of beating Southampton on Saturday. Now we are just looking forward to tomorrow, everyone is looking forward to a game of football like this. Two great teams play against each other in Anfield. '
Two great teams indeed. The opposite song from Slot, Luis Enrique, thinks that the winner of this draw will go all the way to the final of Munich. He also stated last week that he is sure that PSG will destroy the shortage of one goal.
Perhaps his assertiveness has been lost in the translation, somewhat, but the Spaniard has the right to be confident in view of the players he has at his disposal, such as Red-Hot Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and boys' wonder Barcola in front.
There are also Vitinha and Joao Neves in midfield, the two small Portuguese boys who dictate the game in a way that causes Xavi and Andres Iniesta in Prime Barcelona.
Enrique managed that couple of course, when he won the Treble for the Catalan club in 2014-15. At the time, Slot has just started his management trip at the Dutch club Cambuur.
Now the two bosses are the same and a lock have been added: 'They are such a complete team, such a well -managed team and we experienced that last Wednesday. Some people said we played badly, I disagree. I just think they played very well.
'PSG are the most complete team that we have played so far. What I mean by complete is that we are confronted with Arsenal and Manchester City and it is not that there are major differences or margins, but the quality and intensity they play in combination with the quality.
“And they have a great, great manager, because he lets the team play in a way that is not easy and he brings the best out of every player.”
This match is really a game that is worthy of the final, since PSG was 22 undefeated before last week and a young team has – and will most likely have to, under the guidance of Enrique – only get better.
In many ways they are two teams at the start of their travels: PSG in the Post-Kylian Mbappe era where 'Galacticos' were dumped for hard-working and energetic young talents, Liverpool sailed in the sun in a transition season after the legendary boss Klopp.
And that last point should serve as a reminder, if necessary, how sensational this campaign has been for Slot and his ruthless coaching team. Nobody, perhaps not even the data gurus from Liverpool who chose him as the chosen one, expected that success would follow so quickly.
Of course, as the Dutchman himself often states, Liverpool has won nothing yet.
But the banner in the head with a side images of six legendary former bosses – Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Rafa Benitez and Klopp – may soon need an operation.
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