Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has praised the crucial contributions of the Reds’ substitutes, as well as the standout performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker in their narrow 1-0 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Despite PSG’s dominance throughout much of Wednesday night’s last-16 first leg match – where they amassed an impressive 27 shots to Liverpool’s two – Alisson was in exceptional form, later describing it as the best performance of his career. Harvey Elliott compounded the French side’s frustration by netting the winner late on.
Van Dijk acknowledges that the battle is far from decided heading into the second leg next week but commended the impact of Elliott and the other substitutes deployed by manager Arne Slot. Writing in his programme notes ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game against Southampton, Van Dijk reflected on the challenges faced at Parc des Princes.
“It is never easy to play away from home in the Champions League, especially against a side with as much quality and intensity as PSG has,” he said. “We knew even before a ball was kicked that there would be times in the game where we would have to suffer, and that we would have to show character, resilience and togetherness.”
The Dutchman’s pride was palpable, as he continued: “We showed all of those things, and of course it helps when you have, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper in the world in your team. Alisson Becker has saved us many times in the past and his performance in Paris was another special one to add to his collection, for sure.”
But he insisted on the collective effort, saying: “I must stress, however, that it is always a team effort whenever we win games. And yet again, you saw on Wednesday night that players were able to come off the bench and make a positive impact for us.”
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Further highlighting team dynamics, he said: “Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez combined for the winning goal, but don’t overlook the contributions of Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones either. They showed exactly the right attitude coming into a tough game, and helped secure the advantage for us.”
With caution, he added: “Of course, the job still needs to be finished at Anfield next week. It’s only half-time and there is a lot of work still to be done. We expect a really tough test in the second leg, but before that we have the visit of Southampton to what I hope will be an extremely noisy and vibrant Anfield.”
Alisson spoke of his joy in the aftermath of the drama in the French capital, adding: “The manager told us how hard it would be and we had to be ready to suffer. They have so much quality. We gave away so many chances but in the end with Harvey coming in and scoring the goal, it’s unbelievable. A great story. A great night.
“They’re a really good team. Hopefully we can play a better game in the second game at home. We have to recognise the quality in the PSG team, having the ball, creating chances. It was a tough night but a happy end.”
