France forward Ousmane Dembele believes his side’s upcoming Champions League glamor tie against Liverpool will be an “exciting spectacle” for fans— with the Reds having been warned that this is a different PSG to the previous version.
Dembele scored his 100th goal in senior soccer as PSG swept aside Lille in Ligue 1 this weekend. After the game, which proved to be much easier than anticipated for the French champion, he was asked about facing Liverpool next.
“I know it’s going to be a tough Champions League match,” Dembele told DAZN. “We know Liverpool finished first, and they’re also leading the league. It’s going to be a great game. We’re confident, they are too, and it’s going to be an exciting spectacle.”
PSG is a very different prospect to the one that had the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. Now, it operates as much more of a team unit. It still has star quality, but is much likelier to go far in the Champions League because of a much more efficient set-up with younger and more dynamic players capable of pressing.
“I think today we noticed more of a collective effort,” Lille’s Bafode Diakite told DAZN after facing PSG. “It wasn’t the case in previous years. They have this desire to fight together as one. In previous years, it wasn’t really the case, and it’s not what we felt, but now it’s what we feel.”
“It’s what I’ve said from day one, we’re not here to sit back,” PSG boss Luis Enrique said when he was asked about the upcoming Liverpool tie. “We’re going to try to win the game. We have nothing to protect.
“We’re going up against what’s possibly the best team in Europe, a team that qualified brilliantly. But sitting back, speculating, or changing how we play isn’t part of our mentality. We attack and defend in this way, and we’ll try to show our very best version.
“We don’t see ourselves as inferior. I see this tie as 50-50. And we’ll do everything we can to swing it in our favor. Maybe we’re facing a team that’s a mirror image of ourselves. But we won’t sit back, not here and not at Anfield.”
Liverpool.com says: PSG will be a big test for Liverpool but the Reds are the favorites heading into it. A draw would be a more than respectable result in the first leg and then you would fancy Arne Slot’s men against anyone at home a week later. Get through, and Liverpool will face either Club Brugge or Aston Villa in the quarter-finals.
