Liverpool go to Paris on Wednesday to face defending European champions Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, carrying the weight of a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City behind them. The trip comes 13 months after Liverpool won 1-0 in France in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie and still went out on penalties after the return match at Anfield.
Harvey Elliott settled that first leg with an 87th-minute winner, but the scoreline masked what PSG did for most of the night. They finished with 27 efforts to Liverpool’s two, produced 1.78 expected goals to Liverpool’s 0.27, and forced Alisson into nine saves before the tie swung back to Anfield and then to a shootout. PSG have since underlined their level this season by knocking Chelsea out 8-2 on aggregate, and they now meet Liverpool again with the memory of that narrow French defeat still fresh on both sides.
Slot’s team need a much cleaner performance than the one they produced at the Etihad, where they used a 4-2-2-2 system for the opening 35 minutes before the game unraveled. He said Liverpool forget to block a cross, forget to defend in front of goal and forget to follow a runner, and that every time it happens the result is a goal. The criticism lands hardest on the goals they gave away. Their second came from their own throw-in in the final minute of the first half, with Milos Kerkez left three-on-one and Ibrahima Konate beaten by Erling Haaland’s movement in the move. Their third also came from their own throw-in, after Joe Gomez gave the ball straight to Marc Guehi, Rayan Cherki took possession and slid in Antoine Semenyo.
That is the problem Liverpool now carry into Paris: this is not simply a hard away trip, but a test against a side that has already exposed them and a reminder that one good night in France last season was never enough to change the outcome. They arrive after a performance described as unacceptable, and the margin for error against PSG is likely to be smaller still.
