Liverpool head coach Arne Slot insisted his side’s game against PSG went how he thought it would, despite Alisson Becker putting in a sensational performance and Harvey Elliott grabbing a late winner.
“I think there was a lot of similarities with our game against Man City,” Slot said live on TNT Sports. “We faced a team that is so good at ball possession and has some great wingers. I already knew that we will not dominate ball possession over here.
“They go one-vs-one all over the pitch. The only thing I can blame my players is that we had four, five, six times where we played through them and it was completely open and the last touch should be better. But that is difficult when you have already defended so much.
“We came here with them having won 10 games in a row and scoring goal after goal after goal. If you look at the underlying stats, they were number one in the Champions League as well. And they have played Atletico Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal. That tells you a lot.
“They have so much pace up front and midfielders with so much quality on the ball. For us, the only way over here was to defend as we did. And now we hope our fans at Anfield will help us a lot as well.”
Liverpool was under pressure in the first half but came through that largely thanks to Alisson. Ibrahima Konate survived a red card scare and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was only denied a goal thanks to a narrow offside.
(Image: UEFA/UEFA via Getty Image)
“We changed a little bit how we defended [at half-time],” Slot continued. “The first half, we asked Lucho to press a bit more. In the second half, he just had to follow Hakimi. I think in the end that helped. We had more chances than you think but you have to keep going.
“I don’t think I have played with a goalkeeper at [Alisson’s] level, which is normal because he is the best in the world. I had some very good players as a manager, but I never had the best goalkeeper in the world. He showed that today. To go away with a win over here was probably a bit more than we deserved.”
Liverpool.com says: PSG will wonder how on earth it didn’t win the game and Liverpool needed its goalkeeper to stand up and produce a sensational performance. The second leg should be a cracker because the Reds won’t be as poor in possession and PSG will have to take the game to them, which should open up some chances to score at the other end with some better decision-making.
