How Arne Slot’s side came through their Champions League last 16 first leg will take some analysing but it came down to sheer force of will
Liverpool pulled off a barely comprehensible 1-0 victory over Paris St Germain as substitute Harvey Elliott struck late on after the Ligue 1 champions had dominated for 87 minutes. How Arne Slot’s side came through their Champions League last 16 first leg will take some analysing but it came down to sheer force of will, an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker and seizing the moment when it finally arose.
Without their man-of-the-match Brazil international Liverpool’s dreams of a seventh European Cup would be in ruins, but he kept them in the game long enough for Elliott to slide an angled shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma with his first touch a minute after replacing the quiet Mohamed Salah. Alisson faced 27 shots and saved 10 of them but at times was the only thing standing in the way of complete annihilation against totally dominant opponents. Slot admits his Champions League experience is limited, especially compared to PSG counterpart and former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique, but he proved to have a golden touch when it came to substitutes, with another of his replacements Darwin Nunez providing the assist on the counter-attack. That it was their only shot on target showed how much they struggled to break out of their own final third never mind the half with the PSG’s swarm suffocating. The hosts, for so long the butt of the joke in their expensive but so far futile chase for Champions League glory, showed they are a force to be reckoned with having come up short in the semi-final last season. Watched by David Beckham on his return to one of his former clubs the pre-match laser and pyrotechnics were a statement for the occasion and the team’s performance matched it with their six-man high press leaving Liverpool struggling to play out from the back. Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, two of PSG’s front three, were given licence to roam and they left Liverpool’s defence chasing shadows in a scintillating display of fluid movement and attacking intent. Having started centrally Dembele switched to the right and enjoyed a devastating 15-minute spell, first skipping past Andy Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister only for Joao Neves to miskick his shot into the ground and see it bounce over the crossbar. Dembele had an attempt deflected behind after again beating Mac Allister off the flank before Kvaratskhelia thought he had made a 20th-minute breakthrough. Picked out on the right side of the area from a partially cleared corner, he checked on to his left foot and curled a shot inside the far post only for VAR to rule he was offside. The suffering did not end there as VAR came to Liverpool’s rescue again on a red card check for Ibrahima Konate’s last-man shoulder barge on Bradley Barcola after Italian referee Davide Massa had waved play on. Then came the most chaotic spell which saw Konate bizarrely desert his post to leave Dembele on his own with only Alisson to beat. The goalkeeper blocked the shot but was out of position and Dominik Szoboszlai repelled Barcola’s first rebound before the winger ballooned over the second. Kvaratskhelia, who had earlier fully extended Alisson with a long-range drive, then doubled up against Trent Alexander-Arnold on the PSG left before cutting in to test the Liverpool goalkeeper again. Slot’s side were hanging on like never before and almost snatched an undeserved opener in first-half added time when Mac Allister’s corner was flicked to the far post where Salah was slow to react and missed the dropping ball. Half-time provided only a brief respite from the onslaught as Alisson saved a Kvaratskhelia free-kick The pressure appeared to be scrambling minds as Mac Allister and Salah got in each other’s way from a rare foray to the edge of the PSG penalty area, while only Szoboszlai’s quick-thinking prevented Dembele’s corner creeping inside the near post. But they hung on and with 20 minutes to go PSG looked like they were starting to run out of ideas having thrown everything they had at the visitors, although it still required Alisson to deny substitute Desire Doue and Dembele again.Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
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