by Parc des Princes, Paris // Liverpool scored PSG with a late sucker strike to secure a 1-0 win in the French capital, with Harvey Elliott achieving a late winner.
Only because of the brilliance of Alisson Becker fled Arne slots men without a serious defeat. PSG started well and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia seemed to have put the French side forward just to be called back after a Var check.
PSG continued to urge and Alisson was incredibly busy; He put on a master class at the shooting stop. Here are the five things that Liverpool.com discovered when the game was unfolded.
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Alisson Becker is the best in the world
This was simply a master class in goal maintenance. Some parades, Alisson experienced with his positioning, but his handling was excellent. Others pulled himself straight from the upper drawer and stretched out to prevent the ball from going to the upper corner.
PSG gathered around two expected goals and was relentlessly in his persecution of the opening goal. Every time, Alisson, however, threw himself on it every time. Every single action he had to carry out was perfection.
Wide players decisive … and last but not least Harvey Elliott
With first-class, electric players on both side luis diaz, Mohamed Salah, Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola-War, this always a game that was probably decided on the flanks. Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes had all the moments in which they can get defensive this season.
However, it was the PSG players who have the front in this battle. Liverpool was kept under pressure because Kvaratskhelia, Barcola and Ousmane Dembele were in a sensational form, and Salah, Diaz and Diogo Jota could not hold up the ball. Wells after wave of PSG attacks came again and again.
Salah was so ineffective that Arne Slot even took the brave step to take him off and replace him with Elliott. It didn’t happen often this season, but it turned out to be a master’s stroke. Forty -seven seconds after he arrived, Elliott achieved an unlikely winner.
PSG sensational to the last touch
“It feels like it is now a level,” Virgil van Dijk told reporters before the game. “We are now in the KO phase and there is no space for mistakes or bad games.”
With a full week to prepare for this first leg – And with a healthy lead in the Premier League, which offers a winding room to concentrate on Europe, Liverpool should have been refreshed. In fact, this was the first time since August that Liverpool had a week between the games (apart from the time when his players came back from international service).
It was not so much that Liverpool was cruel – although several players could have had it better – but this was the toughest games of the game that was confronted all the season. At some distance, the Ligue -1 leader was a brilliant opponent: intensive, pacy and also filled with brilliant individuals. Only Alisson prevented the goal line from reflecting this.
The PSG from Alt, with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, is over. This newly looking page that Luis Enrique has shaped is much more a team and is much more ready to run into the ground to achieve a result. Kvaratskhelia in particular was at times sensational; Andy Robertson could not approach him or him or Dembele.
It presents an excellent second leg. However, PSG will kick itself that it was so good not to force the ball over the line.
Cody Gakpo missed
Cody Gakpo was absent with a small knock, which Jota gave another chance from the start to get into the team. As already mentioned, however, it didn’t really work to keep the ball up.
This was the sixth time when Slot called this starting XI since he arrived in Liverpool. It would be silly to assume that his team did not suffer from injuries at all (which, even if it were true, would not be completely accidental), it shows stability – especially in comparison to the previous regime.
Slot has now called exactly the same start -xi value as Jürgen Klopp in all of his 491 games for the club. Only the injured Gakpo was able to assert a real claim to his best team, and he would have a strong case with these evidence.
Countdown to Anfield
Although it was not a great reward for Liverpool to play PSG after the burden on the group phase, at least it has the second leg in Angeldd. In addition to Elliott’s goal, this could obviously be a crucial factor in the tie.
PSG had to make optimal use of the home leg, but Alisson stopped that it happened. It could be a completely different game in six days, although the Ligue -1 outfit has put down a marker in relation to what it can generate to a certain extent.
Liverpool would be enough to flee with a draw here, but a victory brings it to a great position. However, if it is the next week, it will now know what it has to do: start the possession considerably better. It should be a cracker.
