'Surprised': Michael Ballack suggests how Liverpool have compared to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea this season

Yesterday at 03:30 PM

Arne Slot could not have asked for a better start to life at Anfield as his Liverpool team continues to fly high.

There were not a lot of expectations on the Reds this season as Slot replaced Jurgen Klopp in the Liverpool hot seat with the feeling amongst fans being that their team would not be challenging for the Premier League and Champions League throughout the 2024/25 campaign.

This was a result of the German manager raising the bar on Merseyside after years away from the top of the English game and having the club tailored around him for many years.

Slot has surprised everyone in the football world with his work at Anfield as the former Feyenoord boss currently has Liverpool top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.

Only a handful of coaches have won the Premier League in their first season and former Chelsea star Michael Ballack has seen something similar between the current Liverpool team and when Jose Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge back in 2005.

• READ MORE: Jose Mourinho now shares what he was telling Chelsea about Mohamed Salah back in 2016

Michael Ballack compares Liverpool to ‘unique’ Chelsea team

Liverpool were 2-1 winners over Lille on Tuesday night which confirms the Reds’ place in the Last 16 of the Champions League, although the top spot in the league format is still up for grabs.

Having watched the Merseyside club defeat the French outfit, Michael Ballack was impressed by Slot’s team as the German stated that he views Liverpool as the favourites to take Real Madrid’s European crown away from them while speaking to BILD.

'Judging by their performances so far, Real Madrid are not my top favourite,' Ballack said via The Metro. 'That would be Liverpool, who are currently dominating the Champions League.’

The former Chelsea star would continue by stating that Slot has surprised him and compared the Dutch coach’s work to that of Mourinho at Chelsea upon his arrival in London back in 2025.

'I was positively surprised by how Arne Slot managed the transition after the Jurgen Klopp era came to an end,’ Ballack said.

'It is always twice as difficult when you follow greats like Klopp or somebody like Jose Mourinho at my former club Chelsea, who achieved something unique.’

Although Mourinho didn’t follow a Chelsea great in Claudio Ranieri, what the Portuguese coach did at Stamford Bridge in 2005 was remarkable.

• READ MORE: Mo Salah leaves Harvey Elliott in shock after what he did in the Anfield tunnel after Liverpool's win over Lille

How Arne Slot’s Liverpool compares to Chelsea under Jose Mourinho

Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte are the names Slot can join should he win the Premier League in his first season with Liverpool.

This is an iconic list but it is the Portuguese coach’s campaign that stands out. Mourinho’s team won Chelsea the league for the first time in 50 years and did so by conceding the least amount of goals in Premier League history allowing only 15 strikes into their net.

The Blues blew away the competition, which was a big surprise given the dominance of Arsenal the year before and Man United across that decade.

Slot’s Liverpool have been chasing records of their own this season and are similar in ways as the Reds were not expected to lead the title race this season and Merseyside club have done so with relative ease so far.

The Dutch coach has also achieved this having not added a major player to his squad last summer, which is something Mourinho cannot not claim.

It will be very hard for Liverpool to trump the achievements of the 2005 Chelsea team but the trajectory of the Reds hints at the rest of the 2024/25 campaign being very special on Merseyside.