The UEFA Champions League round of 16 continued on Wednesday evening, with Premier League leaders Liverpool in first-leg action. Here, football writer Alex Keble looks at what we learned from a dramatic victory at Paris Saint-Germain.
It was one of the great European nights for Liverpool in Paris – just not in the way anyone expected.
For virtually the entire 90 minutes at the Parc des Princes, Liverpool were dominated by Paris Saint-Germain, only for an extraordinary performance from Alisson to inspire a late smash-and-grab winner from substitute Harvey Elliott.
It was the best performance “probably of my life,” Alisson told TNT Sports. “I’ve got no words,” Elliott said of his Brazilian team-mate. “This guy, he’s unbelievable. The best in the world.
“It was my opportunity to repay this man.”
But nobody watching could have seen that repayment coming.
Nobody except perhaps Arne Slot, whose bold decision to replace Mohamed Salah with Elliott paid off spectacularly when the Englishman scored the winner with his first touch 42 seconds after coming on.
PSG were stunned. Wave after wave of attack somehow came to nought, their 71 per cent possession and 27 shots to Liverpool’s two ultimately counting for nothing.
Liverpool learn how to dig in for knockout stages
Prior to Wednesday night, the fewest shots Liverpool had had in a game this season was six, in the 2-2 draw against Everton.
Tonight they had two.
Alisson made nine saves, his most ever in a Liverpool shirt and some of them truly spectacular.
In other words, Liverpool haven’t played a game like this all season. Yet here was evidence they can, if they have to, dig in, sit back and grind out an away win.
That is a hugely valuable skill for the knockout stages of the Champions League and one Liverpool learned, incrementally, throughout the night.
In the first half PSG ripped through the visitors, but after the break, Liverpool compressed the space, dropped deeper and kept Luis Enrique’s side at bay. The visitors held 33 per cent possession in the first half and 27 per cent in the second half.
“We changed the way we defended a little bit [in the second half],” Slot told TNT Sports. “In the first half, we asked to press a bit more.
“In the second they were still threatening, but most of their shots were from distance.”
He’s right. PSG had 27 shots but they only amassed an Expected Goals (xG) of 1.82, a testament to Liverpool’s low block and crowding of the penalty area.
It’s a strategy that Liverpool would certainly expect to use again should they reach the Champions League semi-finals and potentially a meeting with Real Madrid.
Here, Slot’s team showed they can get the job done even when their backs are against the wall.
A blueprint for PL teams to follow?
The rest of the Premier League will be pouring over footage from this game to work out how PSG did it, not least Liverpool’s EFL Cup final opponents Newcastle United.
There is plenty to learn, but the top line is to be fearless.
PSG pressed and counter-pressed superbly, an approach that never let Liverpool settle and quickly pinned Slot’s team into their own half.
From here, PSG’s primary aim was to get the ball out to the left wing, knowing that Salah would stay high and fail to get back, making the Liverpool 4-2-4 lopsided.
Indeed that 4-2-4 also meant just two in central midfield when pushed into a deep shape, ensuring the wingers – by fearlessly running straight at their opponents – could burst infield and force a huge numerical advantage.
Be brave in the press, run at the Liverpool full-backs and weave infield to hit the two-man midfield; that’s what Newcastle can look to do at Wembley, although of course it’s easier said than done.
Not many teams have position-swapping forwards like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola to turn the screw. Not many have midfield maestros like Vitinha and Joao Neves to control midfield.
Still, if Newcastle are brave, and if they use their left wing to get into dangerous areas, there is hope.
In fact, after seeing Slot’s team on the back foot for the very first time this season, tonight there is hope for everyone in the Premier League.
Direct strategy pays off, but Liverpool will need more control in second leg
Slot’s decision-making was justified entirely by the late winner. Not only did two of his substitutes combine to score, the winner also came from a long ball into the left wing, the umpteenth of the night.
Over and over again – four in the first eight minutes alone – a Liverpool player hoofed a long ball up to the left side. It was the final one that did the trick.
But that does not necessarily mean Liverpool’s tactical plan worked. There was plenty of luck to this win, and on another night Liverpool would have been punished for their inability to control the game.
The visitors completed just 75 per cent of their passes, their lowest of the season in all competitions, reflecting a long-ball approach to bypass the PSG press coupled with the decision to counter quickly at every opportunity.
Rather than recycle the ball and take the sting out, Liverpool kept looking for a quick break or long pass forward, which is what allowed PSG to swarm and nearly overwhelm them throughout the contest.
In the second leg at Anfield, Liverpool must take better care of the ball and build their way slowly up the pitch.
Still, how can we question Slot after that result?
Even when the game became end-to-end and out of control, he went against the prevailing wisdom, leaning into the madness by bringing on the chaotic Nunez – who promptly set up the winner.
After all, it was all part of the plan: “I knew we would not dominate ball possession over here,” Slot told TNT Sports.
Alisson was magnificent, and PSG could have won. But in the most unusual and unexpected of ways, this was another impressive victory in Europe for Liverpool and Slot.
