Champions League: Arne Slot’s Alexander Isak gamble backfires as Liverpool’s hopes are dashed
Less than a year after Liverpool won the Premier League title,
Arne Slott’s team is now in a situation where their season hinges on qualifying for the Champions League.
For Slott, perhaps his future is the same. There will be no silverware and the Dutchman has already said that failing to organise Champions League football next season would mean it would “certainly not be an acceptable season”.
It was Liverpool’s 17th defeat of the campaign, but it came after arguably one of their best performances. Until Ousmane Dembele’s 72nd-minute strike for Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool fought admirably against the champions of Europe.
“It was an intense match between two teams who played really good football,” said PSG head coach Luis Enrique.
For Liverpool, there is no shame in being left out of this PSG team. Luis Enrique’s team are a joy to watch and play with confidence when in possession.
But the worrying thing for Liverpool is that they have fallen behind.
When these two teams met in the last 16 of the Champions League last season, PSG was the better team in both legs, but they needed a penalty shootout to eliminate Liverpool.
This time, they overcame Slott’s side in Paris, and when Liverpool threatened on Tuesday night, the 4–0 final scoreline over both legs was justified.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed because I think there were parts of the second half where you felt like, ‘If we can score now, it could be an exceptional night’,” Slott said.
He added, “However, the future of this club looks very promising.” We have shown that we can compete with the champions of Europe in our stadiums. To become the dominant team, very few teams can be as effective against PSG and create as many chances as we have.
At Anfield, Liverpool’s xG was 1.94 compared to 0.18 at the Parc des Princes last week.
There were some positives, but they still have a long way to go to be serious European contenders again.
After the match, Mohamed Salah bid farewell to the Anfield crowd after playing his last game for Liverpool in the Champions League.
The question now is whether Slott and Liverpool will return to the Champions League next season.
