Arne Slot said that his high-flying Liverpool side would need to produce their best performance of the season so far to knock Paris Saint-Germain out of the Champions League on Tuesday. They didn’t, though.
The Reds certainly played a lot better than they did at Parc des Princes last week, when they nicked a 1-0 win thanks to Alisson Becker’s heroics in goal and Harvey Elliott’s late winner, but the runaway Premier League leaders still weren’t good enough to see off PSG, who proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are capable of finally going all the way this season.
The goal that forced extra-time, and eventually penalties, may have been a gift, with Ibrahima Konate leaving Ousmane Dembele with the simplest of finishes. However, PSG produced a complete performance: they withstood a couple of periods of sustained pressure but also repeatedly came storming back at their hosts, with their fluid front three once again causing Liverpool’s backline all sorts of problems.
GOAL runs through all of the winners and losers on an absorbing night of action at Anfield that ended with PSG prevailing 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw on aggregate...