The untold story behind Liverpool and PSG’s two scorelines

The Reds defend a 1-0 aggregate lead with Arne Slot adamant his side must improve after conceding 27 shots and registering just two at the Parc des Princes last week

Arne Slot did not allow himself to dream.

In fact, he had a sleepless night. By choice, too. One of his finest results as Liverpool manager nevertheless prompted a late-night inquest of sorts.

“If you have a game like we did last week, you feel like, ‘Can I even go to sleep at all? Or do I have to watch even more?’” he admitted.

Slot’s video analysis of Paris Saint-Germain has been extensive, aided by a rare free weekend before last Wednesday’s 1-0 win in the Parc des Princes, even incorporating their autumn defeats to Arsenal and Bayern Munich. But fresh from adding the French champions to their English, German and Spanish counterparts on the list of Liverpool’s victims this season, Slot felt the immediate need to revisit the game.

Two scorelines told wildly different tales: 1-0 to Liverpool, courtesy of Harvey Elliott’s first touch in the French capital, and 27-2, the shot count, dominated by PSG.

Slot was swift to say Liverpool were lucky. His interpretation of the evening was both nuanced and honest.

The verdict from the French capital, however, was unflattering. Paris Saint-Germain’s players reportedly could not believe how poor Liverpool were. They compared them unfavourably with two of their other European opponents this season.

“Some of them have said Arsenal and Bayern Munich were better than us,” said Slot. “That is what I have heard. I think what that has to do is PSG improved a lot in the two-to-three months [since] they played at Arsenal and Bayern.”

Certainly with PSG winning 18 of their last 20 matches, with their lone defeat in 26 since their trip to Bavaria coming at Liverpool’s hands last week, there is the sense of a team coming together, of a side peaking now. The eventual verdict on Liverpool’s campaign may be that they were at their best in the autumn, topping a Champions League group when PSG threatened to be eliminated from it. By March, they were both battering Liverpool and beaten by them.

“Everyone is writing about 27 shots and that is also what I saw,” said Slot, ever a man to acknowledge facts. His goalkeeper gave the performance of a lifetime, in his own words, but Slot added: “But if you put the 27 shots in a row, it’s not that all 27 were amazing saves from Alisson. He had two or three incredible saves. Some people said we played poor; I don’t agree. I think they played tremendously well. I don’t think we have played a team this season who combined that quality with intensity. They are such a complete team.”

It tallied with Andy Robertson’s verdict that PSG are the best side Liverpool have faced this season. Now, that one-goal advantage notwithstanding, Slot thinks his side need to produce their finest performance of the campaign to go through.

Slot's side only had two shots on target in Paris, compared to 27 for the hosts (Getty Images)

After all, he pointed out, Luis Enrique’s side were Champions League semi-finalists last season whereas Liverpool were not even in the competition. He quietly noted that PSG and Manchester City are the world’s two richest clubs; financially, Liverpool are the underdogs in this tie. It may have been a way of illustrating that, commanding as their position this season seems, it was not preordained or purchased.

Their next few days could bring them a Champions League quarter-final spot and a first trophy in his reign, but Slot said: “No, I do not dream at all at the moment about this week.”

It is not in his nature to get too far ahead of himself. Whereas Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was happy to call Tuesday’s second leg the most important game of PSG’s season, Slot smiled when offering his explanation as to why it had the same status for Liverpool. “Because it is the next one and the next one is always the most important,” he said.

He doesn’t look too much further ahead, unlike his PSG counterpart. “Certainly, I think whoever goes through tomorrow will go to the final,” said Luis Enrique. Slot argued it was not that simple, citing the presence of Aston Villa, Arsenal and the Madrid clubs on the same side of the draw. But then Luis Enrique has the experience of reaching, and winning, a Champions League final, a decade ago, when Slot was still assistant manager at Cambuur.

He has come a long way since then. He may go a lot further this season. After all, Liverpool have taken a lead from an away leg back to Anfield on 39 previous occasions in Europe and advanced on all 39. Yet, logically, if the two teams perform the way they did last week again, Liverpool will not have another 1-0 win.

PSG are not cowed by history. Kvaratskhelia put their chances at 50-50, and Slot did not disagree. “The result was ours, the performance was for them,” he said. “I think both teams have showed in the last 15-20 games that they can score goals from everywhere. We are 1-0 up and that gives us confidence, where it will give them confidence the way they have played and their performance. Maybe 50-50 is a fair way of looking at it.”

And when Slot looks back on it, perhaps in a post-mortem in the early hours, Liverpool will either be Champions League quarter-finalists or have suffered the most serious setback of his reign.

Liverpool vs Paris Saint-Germain kicks off at 8pm, coverage is on Amazon Prime Video