BRIGHTON V LIVERPOOL, TONIGHT 8PM (SKY SPORTS)

WHILE Liverpool's fans celebrated their status as supporters of the new Premier League champions outside Anfield last month, the gaze of some inside the squad itself had already been trained towards the Champions League.

- By PAUL GORST

It's fair to suggest the manner of Liverpool's penalty-shootout defeat at home to finalists Paris Saint-Germain has led to at least a number of players in the squad thinking about what might have been, had a better set of penalties been taken down the Anfield Road end on the night of March 11.

Having wrapped up a second Premier League title with four games to spare to facilitate a couple of end-of-season holidays before lifting the trophy itself ahead of one of the most famous parades in club history on May 26, lamenting the European fortunes might be a futile use of time for the Reds players, but reflecting on those sorts of setbacks is often what sets the elite apart.

Mohamed Salah has already spoken this week to Gary Neville about how his overriding aim for next term is a seventh European Cup for the Reds and as Arne Slot previewed Monday's trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, it’s clear the PSG exit still rankles with him also.

"Do I have any regrets this season? Oh, yeah, I have to make decisions 20 in a row, I have to answer all these questions from you every single time," Slot says.

"One time I give maybe a little bit better answer than the other time, it's the same with the 20 decisions I have to make, so I'm 100% sure I haven't made all the decisions right.

"But not all of them will see daylight, if that’s the way you say it.

"One of the things Mikel [Arteta, Arsenal boss] said which I agree with him completely, is sometimes you have to be in the right place, in the right moment.