Arne Slot has frequently described last season’s Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain as the best he has been involved in. “My football is Paris Saint-Germain v Liverpool, Liverpool v Paris Saint-Germain,” he said in January. Now he gets to relive it, but the sequel threatens to be more painful for the Liverpool manager.
Liverpool exited the Champions League to PSG last year on penalties. The European champions beat Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the last round, despite an expected goals of just 2.23. They posted a tally almost twice as high over 210 minutes against Liverpool last season and scored just once.
Slot savoured the quality in the double header against Luis Enrique’s team last season. “The reason I come back to that game a lot, especially at Anfield, is because it was all about football,” said Slot. PSG’s tactics – “press, press, press”, in his words – are very different.
Enrique claimed it was “impossible” there was a favourite in a rematch. A year ago, Liverpool, top of the Premier League, went to the Parc des Princes with that status. Now they are underdogs, and not merely because the French champions have shed their tag as tragicomic underachievers.
A danger for Slot is that his first tie against PSG represents the turning point in his reign and his second hastens the end of it. Liverpool’s smash-and-grab raid to win in Paris last March positioned them to reach the quarter-finals; instead the second-leg reverse at Anfield was followed by Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle. A potential treble became a single.
PSG’s Anfield win proved the first of 20 defeats Liverpool have suffered in 59 games. The heaviest came on Saturday at Manchester City. Virgil van Dijk felt they gave up during that 4-0 demolition. “I can tell you if we have the 20 minutes we had at City here, we will again concede four goals,” accepted Slot.
