Liverpool’s treble dreams have been dashed. The soon-to-be Premier League champions and Carabao Cup finalists have been knocked out of the Champions League following a heart-wrenching penalty shoot-out loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
Luis Enrique’s squad could consider themselves incredibly unlucky to be down 1-0 due to Harvey Elliott’s last-minute goal from the first leg at the Parc des Princes. However, after weathering an early onslaught from the fired-up Reds, they leveled the score within 12 minutes of last night’s second leg at Anfield, thanks to the ever-reliable Ousmane Dembele.
After 120 minutes of top-tier football, the score remained 1-0 in PSG’s favor, leading to the dreaded penalty shoot-out to determine who would advance to the quarter-finals. The Ligue 1 leaders kept their cool, converting all four of their penalties to secure a 4-1 victory, with Liverpool substitutes Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones failing to find the net.
Liverpool now has an ideal opportunity to rebound when they take on Newcastle United in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley. For now, here’s what the national media thanks to the Liverpool Echo.
Paul Joyce, in the Times, pens: “Back and forth it went. Breathless, unrelenting, emotions see-sawing. One moment Anfield expectant, the next fearful, until, finally, there was one team left standing. That it was Paris Saint-Germain, not Liverpool, owed as much to their powers of resilience as anything else – not a quality associated with them in the past – and also the sharp reflexes of Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“The goalkeeper, England’s nemesis when the Euro 2020 final came down to penalties, thwarted Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones during a nerve-shredding shoot-out and, with PSG faultless with all four of their spot-kicks, it was they who moved into the Champions League quarter-finals.
“Luis Enrique, their streetwise coach, had predicted the winner of an enthralling spectacle would reach the final, and the outcome will do nothing to shake his conviction.
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“For a team who are 15 points clear at the summit of the Premier League, Liverpool has only won nine of 46 games in all competitions by a greater margin of two goals. A change in personnel, who can add a ruthless edge, is likely to be needed.”
Sam Wallace, in the Telegraph, writes: “Top of the Champions League in January, out by mid-March – Liverpool were dispatched in a penalty shoot-out at the wrong end of Anfield, their nerve finally failing at precisely the moment this club has so often triumphed.
“Paris St-Germain won the toss at the end of a high-quality 120 minutes and took Liverpool down to the Anfield Road end where the visitors had their supporters. The Kop watched aghast as first Darwin Nunez and then Curtis Jones had their penalties saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Italian who was the scourge of England at Euro 2020.
“It was only the second time Liverpool has lost a penalty shoot-out in European football, and it marked the end of their hopes of a treble of trophies this season. At the end of the game Achraf Hakimi took a PSG flag to the center of the pitch, much to the displeasure of the Kop who railed against what seemed like a celebration of a conquest.
“At the end of the shoot-out PSG’s Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi celebrated in front of his team’s support in the Anfield Road end with the kind of joy that suggested a man who is under some pressure finally to nail this competition.”
Lewis Steele, in the Daily Mail, writes: “Last week, Alisson was the hero with what he described as the best night of his life. On Tuesday night, it was Donnarumma’s turn to defy logic with acrobatic saves, point-blank stops and a commanding nature to take control of dangerous crosses. Two penalty stops will make the headlines but this was another all-round imperious goalkeeping display.
“What we can safely say is, regardless of the result, these are the cream of the crop of Europe. The best of France against the best of England. Two great coaches and two great teams. One of them was knocked out but both will be back this time next year.
“PSG used to be a team that was laughing stocks of Europe for their lame exits from this competition. All the gear, no idea. No matter how much money they spent, or how many galactico-like juggernauts they had at their disposal, it felt like they were cursed on this stage.
“Not any more. Now, Enrique’s men are coming of age and they are the team to beat.”
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
In a moving piece for the Guardian, Jonathan Liew describes the kinetic energy of Paris Saint-Germain’s victory at Anfield: “Afterwards, they carried on running. They had run for two hours, run themselves into the ground, run themselves delirious, but at the moment of triumph, the players of Paris Saint-Germain somehow managed to find a few more yards in them. Ran towards their fans in the corner, ran in wild circles, tore across the Anfield grass as if it were the Champs-Elysees.
“This was an incredible game of football, really an incredible two games of football, during which it was hard not to suspect that we were watching the potential champions, however it ended. Ultimately it would have been devilishly harsh on Paris not to have progressed: dominant for at least two-thirds of this tie, explosive and precise in equal measure As brilliant as Liverpool have been under Arne Slot over the past seven months, here they met their match in the unlikeliest of forms.
Paul Gorst, writing for the ECHO, noted: “It was substitutes Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones who missed the decisive penalties for Slot’s men and no blame should be attributed to either for those pressured kicks, but the former struggled following his introduction for Diogo Jota, who once more toiled himself against the PSG defense.
“The difficulties both Nunez and Jota endured on the night laid bare more clearly than ever that Slot has to look to the market this summer for a shiny new No. 9. This is not a reactive statement on the back of a damaging loss, either.
“The Reds might be strolling towards a second league championship in five years domestically but they are doing so largely on the back of the contributions of their wide forwards when it comes to goals, most notably Salah, who was unable to get the better of the brilliant Mendes.
“The boos that rang out from those on the Kop who had stayed behind long after the final whistle were reserved for Achraf Hakimi, the PSG captain, who strolled into the center circle before unfurling a large banner that celebrated his club.
“Where’s your European Cup!?” a half-full Kop demanded to know in response. The French champions might just have their answer later this year on this evidence. No. 7 for Liverpool will have to wait.”
