PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi paid tribute to ‘best in the world’ Liverpool after his team knocked them out in the Champions League.
Paris Saint-Germain bounced back from a first-leg shortfall to knock Liverpool out on penalties. Trailing 1-0 in the tie after last week’s late hit by Harvey Elliott at Parc des Princes, Luis Enrique’s squad withstood an initial besiege from the Reds and managed to drag the match into extra-time, courtesy of an early strike from Ousmane Dembele.
It seemed almost poetic that a clash between two top-tier European outfits would come down to such slender differences, and after 120 minutes of riveting play at Anfield, Gianluigi Donnarumma emerged as PSG’s savior, securing victory in the penalty shootout.
Speaking with CBS Sports post-match, Al-Khelaifi couldn’t contain his praise for the “character” displayed by his team to clinch what he described as a “very, very special win” against Arne Slot’s Liverpool.
“Liverpool are the best club today in Europe, and they finished first in the group stage and are the Premier League leaders,” he said. “We’re very proud, to be honest. Respect to Liverpool: to beat them at Anfield is something amazing. The players showed their character and personality.
“We have one of the youngest if not the youngest teams in Europe so to build to come here and show this character, personality… it’s something amazing we’re building.”
The Parisians etched their name into the history books by becoming the inaugural French team to clinch a European second-leg victory at Anfield, stunning Liverpool by overturning a first-leg advantage brought back to Merseyside for the first time.
(Image: Getty Images)
For Al-Khelaifi, the triumph highlighted the wisdom of PSG’s strategy shift from chasing ‘Galacticos’ to fostering youth talent and scouting emergent players. He enthused: “Today and the last two years and especially to be honest this season, the star is the team.
“Everyone is repeating it; the coach, the players – amazing. If you ask me who is the best player today, I don’t know – all of them.”
“Trust me, if even we lost this match, my speech would be the same. Today we are in a quarter-final, we’re not going to say we’re going to win the Champions League today. But match by match, we are building something for the future. That’s the most important.
“Everyone criticized us at the beginning of the season, saying we’re not going to go through. But the mentality of the players, the coach, is that wherever we go, we’re going to win. We want to play offensively, we want to play our style against any team.”
