Champions League briefing: PSG come of age, imperious Yamal, and how will exit affect Liverpool?

New York Times
16 Min Read

There is nothing quite like the Champions League on nights like this.

Contents
Have PSG come of age?The Slot machine stallsLamine Yamal… there are no wordsRaphinha for the Ballon d’Or?Madrid 2010 to be revisitedTuesday’s resultsWhat happens next?

The drama, the tension, the tears, the celebrations — all witnessed at Anfield after Liverpool, who strolled through the league-phase stage, were knocked out by Europe’s form team Paris Saint-Germain.

Liverpool had never previously been eliminated from Europe after winning a first leg away from home. Mohamed Salah was in tears at full time. Will he be back in red in next season’s competition?

As well as PSG, we gained a good look at three other potential winners this season — Inter, Barcelona and Bayern Munich — who all eased through to the last eight. Yep, it’s getting to the business end now.

Have PSG come of age?

After a tight, tense two-legged encounter between two of the best teams in Europe which had to be settled on penalties, it is perhaps unfair to say one team deserved it more than the other.

But, after 210 minutes, you would be hard pressed to make a case against PSG being worthy winners.

They dominated last week’s first leg in Paris, which ended with a freakish result given the respective performances of the two sides, and at Anfield they again had more shots than their hosts (21 to 19) and a higher expected goals (xG) figure (2.56 to 1.64).

This was a much more even encounter, with Liverpool enjoying a prolonged period of relentless dominance in the second half when PSG’s goal led a charmed life with desperate clearances off the line and great saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma.


The outstanding Donnarumma celebrates PSG’s goal at Anfield (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

But PSG held firm, showing a different side to their character; defending valiantly while posing a sporadic threat on the counter via their exceptional front three of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola and goalscorer Ousmane Dembele.

PSG, though, are about more than three sparkling attackers.

After years of placing a focus on brilliant individuals, they are now a brilliant team — perhaps the best in Europe right now with the continent’s form player in their ranks. Before the first leg, they had won 10 games in a row in all competitions. They have now won 14 in a row away from home (including a victory on penalties at Lens in the Coupe de France) and Dembele has scored 23 goals in his last 17 appearances.

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They also came through a nerveless penalty shootout in which, backed by a vociferous bloke with a megaphone stood behind the goal in the Anfield Road end (PSG has crucially won the coin toss to take the penalties away from the Kop), Vitinha shuffled like a pensioner before picking his spot, last-minute substitute Goncalo Ramos scored with his first touch of the ball, and then Dembele and Desire Doue did the rest with precision penalties of the utmost composure.

Donnarumma reversed the tables on Alisson with a match-winning contribution of his own.

Video for UK readers

Video for U.S. readers

The jubilant scenes which followed, with Luis Enrique and Dembele embracing each other like long lost brothers, again reflected the team spirit this team has lacked for so long.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround since the league phase when they lost three matches and needed to beat Stuttgart on Matchday Eight to progress.

But in this form, who can stop PSG?

The Slot machine stalls

Conversely, Liverpool sauntered through the league phase in first place, winning their first seven matches in serene fashion.

What went wrong here? Well, other than Harvey Elliott’s first-leg strike (which, let’s be honest, Donnarumma should have saved), Liverpool only have themselves to blame for not creating enough chances over the 210 minutes.

Their intent was spot on from the off here. They had more shots in the opening six minutes than in the whole match last Wednesday, but Mohamed Salah spurned both opportunities and that set the tone for the night.

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They were irresistible at the start of the second half, relentlessly peppering the PSG goal, but failed to turn their dominance into goals and the visitors were the stronger side in extra time, with Doue twice going close.

As for the shootout, you can only feel sympathy for Darwin Nunez (it had to be him) and Curtis Jones, whose penalties were saved.


Slot comforts Darwin Nunez after the penalty shootout (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)

It was hugely unfortunate for Liverpool, having won the group, to be paired with such a good side in the last 16 in a tie that felt more worthy of a semi-final. They also probably came into the tie in their least convincing form of the season — results have been solid, but performances against Southampton, Everton, Wolves etc have been unconvincing — while PSG were in their most purple of patches.

It all makes for the first real setback under Arne Slot, who must now lift his players for the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle on Sunday, with potential doubts over the fitness of Ibrahima Konate and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Will this spur them on? Or will there be a lingering hangover from European elimination?

Lamine Yamal… there are no words

We would say there’s not much left to say about the sheer brilliance of Lamine Yamal, but aged 17 years and 241 days there could be at least 20 more years of the Barcelona genius to go, so perhaps it’s time to buy a thesaurus.

His precise age was important on Tuesday as he became the youngest player to score and assist in the same Champions League game, beating Breel Embolo by 22 days.

This was Yamal at his twinkled-toed best. He set up the opening goal for Raphinha via an eye-catching run during which he sent two players to Andorra with a perplexing change of direction.

Benfica soon equalised via a Nicolas Otamendi header, but then came Yamal’s moment of true genius; an achingly gorgeous left-footed shot from range, taken while off balance and running at speed, which seared into the far corner.

Video for UK readers

Video for U.S. readers

In terms of its technique and precision this was a strike of rare beauty, worthy of plastering on the side of La Sagrada Familia.

He tormented Benfica left-back Samuel Dahl, who must have felt like a bit of a twit, all night. Yamal’s reputation continues to grow.

Raphinha for the Ballon d’Or?

For a period this encounter, helped by Benfica’s need to attack from the off, was pretty captivating, especially during a first half of four goals, numerous chances and a couple of disallowed efforts when it looked like we might be witnessing a repeat of the 5-4 thriller these sides played out in the group stage.

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However, Raphinha’s second goal of the night just before half-time (awarded after some very peculiar officiating as the referee initially went back on his own advantage before eventually giving the goal) dented Benfica’s belief. The second period was mostly a procession.

Video for UK readers

Video for U.S. readers

It was Raphinha’s 11th goal in the competition this season, taking him above Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy to the top of the scoring chart.

It’s been an incredible rise to the top of European football for Raphinha who, three years ago, was in the middle of a relegation battle with Leeds United. He’s got better with age (the Brazilian is 28 now) and talk of him being one of the favourites for this year’s Ballon d’Or is fully justified.

Raphinha also claimed the assist for Yamal’s goal (his fifth assist, putting him joint-second in that list only behind Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich), meaning he has an incredible tally of 27 goals and 19 assists from 41 appearances in all competitions.

Yamal, incidentally, has 12 goals and 17 assists from his 37 appearances.

Raphinha and Yamal, along with the evergreen Robert Lewandowski and his 34 goals, form one of the most potent attacking trios in Europe. With Barca now playing Lille or Dortmund in the last eight, there is a clear route to the semi-finals for what would be their first appearance at that stage of the competition since 2019.


Barcelona’s irrepressible Yamal and Raphinha (David Ramos/Getty Images)

Madrid 2010 to be revisited

The best teams in England and France served up a fascinating, intriguing, enthralling two-legged tie for us. How about the best teams in Germany and Italy?

Bayern Munich and Inter, in a repeat of the 2010 final which Jose Mourinho’s Inter won in Madrid, will meet in the knockout stage for the first time since 2011 (Inter won again, at the last-16 stage) when they face off next month.

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That the two sides booked their passes into the last eight was absolutely no surprise given they earned commanding leads in the first legs against Bayer Leverkusen and Feyenoord last week, and neither endured any difficulties on Tuesday night.

In fact, they both increased their margins of victory, with Inter, 2-0 up from the first match in Rotterdam, putting the tie almost beyond doubt in the eighth minute at San Siro with a contender (but, thanks to Yamal, not the winner) for goal of the night.

Video for UK readers

Video for U.S. readers

Feyenoord did score their first goal under new boss Robin van Persie via a Jakub Moder penalty, but Hakan Calhanoglu, who had given that spot kick away, ended the contest in the second half with a penalty of his own.

Moder’s goal was, pretty astonishingly, just the second Inter have conceded in their 10 Champions League matches this season. They have only been behind for 285 seconds — against Leverkusen in the group stage.

That record will be put to an extreme test by Vincent Kompany’s Bayern, who have scored 74 goals in 25 Bundesliga games, plus a further 28 in 12 Champions League outings.

Harry Kane has scored 32 by himself and he opened the scoring at a Florian Wirtz-less Leverkusen to make it 10 in Europe this season, more than any English player has ever scored in a Champions League campaign. Kane turned provider for Alphonso Davies to make it 2-0 on the night and 5-0 on aggregate.

We have four weeks to wait until Bayern’s unstoppable force meets Inter’s immovable object.

Tuesday’s results

Barcelona 3 Benfica 1 (4-1 on aggregate)

Bayer Leverkusen 0 Bayern Munich 2 (0-5 on aggregate)

Inter 2 Feyenoord 1 (4-1 on aggregate)

Liverpool 0 Paris Saint-Germain 1, (1-1 on aggregate, 1-4 on penalties)

What happens next?

The last-16 stage concludes on Wednesday night with second legs from the four remaining ties.

Lille (1) vs Borussia Dortmund (1), 5.45pm BST/1.45pm ET

Arsenal (7) vs PSV (1), 8pm BST/4pm ET

Aston Villa (3) vs Club Brugge (1), 8pm BST/4pm ET

Atletico Madrid (1) vs Real Madrid (2), 8pm BST, 4pm ET

The quarter finals take place next month, starting on April 8/9 and concluding a week later.

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The draw has been made already. Arsenal are almost certainly heading through to face the victors of the Madrid derby, while Barcelona will play Lille or Borussia Dortmund.

PSG will be back in England if Aston Villa complete the job against Club Brugge, while it’ll be Bayern versus Inter.

(Top photo: Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

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