Well, I hope you liked that. The Champions League may not get better than this between now and Munich. More than three and a half hours there was nothing to arrange the two best teams in the field, but a battle for the nerves from 12 meters out.
It was that of Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones who crumbled, the best seeds that deposited out of a competition that they seemed to have strong favorites for the group phase. Despite all the difficulties that Paris Saint-Germain has just given them, this result should not do anything about the idea that Liverpool could really have won the Champions League. If Gianluigi Donnarumma were a bit shorter, if Nunez had gone a little higher or lower, they would thoroughly earn the tag of the favorites.
The better team won in the course of this draw. The pinnacle of PSG in the first stage was exciting, and in the last moments it was the men of Luis Enrique who looked fresher and more likely to find the winner. Nevertheless, the fact that a form of justice was done through fines means that Liverpool was something other than unhappy to be drawn with one of the gilded contenders of this competition.
It could be said that Liverpool drove their happiness in the first stage. It can also be said that they have the best keeper in the world for almost seven years, precisely that when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was set on fire on their goal, Liverpool did not bound. Anyway, some fortunes that came on their way in the Parc des Princes were restored to Anfield in the first 90 minutes. The expected goals (XG) can paint a picture of Parisian dominance, but when Ousmane Dembele from three meters from an empty Net, your XG looks a bit blown up.
Certainly, there were times for the visitors, but there was also a whole wave of them for Liverpool, starting with a slightly too nonchalant finish by Mohamed Salah, blocked by Nuno Mendes and ending with the Donnarumma -which was the podium for his shootout hero deeds.
“After 90 minutes it clearly felt that we deserved more than 1-0 lower,” said Arne Slot. “We played the perfect game and did not score.”
There will be time for lock to pick the holes in the versions of his side over the two legs. He will certainly need more than many would expect. The simple reality is that if Liverpool had met the majority of the field in the last 16, they had stood under, even allowing their wobbles early in the draw. Only the best could beat this team. Maybe that’s what PSG is.
Even if they never stay behind the shooting, Slot is obliged to be the more reactive coach. For 45 minutes his side was cooked because English leasing leaders would not be in this phase of the competition, at least not when they have not had any case from the Pep Guardiola Galaxy Brains. In the Parc des Princes, the Liverpool boss made the necessary adjustments that would suppress the raids of PSG in the criminal area. Alisson might have had to make a little more excellent saves-de 17 with which he ended this draw, more than Arsenal’s David Raya made throughout the Champions League of 2024-25 but they were out of the range.
Trumedia
Liverpool would never have considered such caution. It was to conclude the enormous honor of the conclusion that one of the first major tests of his European references as manager of this club saw his side playing his side in a way that looked so redolent from his predecessor. Especially in the first half, the hosts were more a Jurgen Klopp team than they had often been often in recent years.
The ruthless aggression of their press meant that the first 10 minutes neither Dembele nor Bradley Barcola owned a serious pinch. The red wall forced PSG deeper and deeper, the high turnover with remarkable frequency. Liverpool looked bigger, stronger and mobile.
Such a cruelty meant taking risks, the species that Klopp would be more focused on the Slot seemed to be in his term of office so far. A little caution went out of the game of Liverpool when they went hunting for possession and that meant leaving the coverage of the central space for the rear four. Dembele only had to recognize it once, shooting in space like a real false nine, Barcola sliding through with a nice pass and the chance of a syruper threw away when Ibrahima Konate had no choice than to dive for a cross.
Liverpool was not really taken out of their pass by the tying line of the draw. They were still willing to gamble their high line on Barcola, while the game was wearing the intensity, but made their grip tighter. A tight offside of Diogo Jota just before Trent Alexander-Arnold forced a series of opportunities that resulted in Dominik Szoboszlai who stood in, more excellent blocks of the obdurate Willian Pacho: each of these moments could have been far understood by the Reds way.
After 120 debilitating and fruitless minutes, the fear will be right that this defeat will bleed in Sunday. Of all the neutals that are banned by this, few could have screamed another minute of the interruption time, a few penalties as loud as that of a conviction in Newcastle. It will need a lot to raise his players physically and emotionally for the EFL Cup final on Sunday. The status of Trent Alexander-Arnold must seriously doubt after he was forced to limit what seemed like an ankle injury. The best scenario for Ibrahima Konate might be a cramp. He will not be the only one who feels the efforts from Tuesday for days.
If this is indeed the week in which a Treble ‘just’ becomes a title, this can lead to a curious story told about the season of Liverpool, a feeling of missed opportunity given the procession that the Premier League has become. That would indeed be loudly locked, who proved that he was more than able to adapt to the demands of a high -quality European draw. On another occasion it might have waved their way, just as the PSGs could be in those early exchanges. That is what this made a real collision of Titans, one that would be worth determining a phase of this competition. It’s just a shame that we won’t see these two again.