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Liverpool earned a 1-0 victory over PSG in the Champions League last 16 first leg.
Jamie Carragher called it one of the biggest robberies in football. Few would disagree. If someone stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre overnight, perhaps the Parisian media would have to weigh up which was the biggest purloining to occur in the French capital.
Had Liverpool returned to Merseyside on the back of a pummelling by Paris Saint-Germain, there couldn't be any complaints. A share of the spoils would have felt like a theft. Yet the Reds have stolen a 1-0 aggregate lead after the Champions League last 16 first leg.
Head coach Arne Slot admitted that Liverpool were lucky to have won the game. He wasn't wrong. For 87 minutes, the Reds survived incessant waves of PSG attacks. Fortunately, goalkeeper Alisson Becker delivered the performance of his career. The Brazil international made 10 saves throughout the contest - most were heroic.
And when Liverpool mustered their first shot on target, they made it count. Unlike Alisson, PSG counterpart Gianluigi Donnarumma's attempt to save Harvey Elliott's shot was meek, with the ball finding the far corner to send Liverpool into ecstasy. The celebrations in the away end were wild - as they were on the pitch and in the Reds dugout. Captain Virgil van Dijk immediately ran over to Alisson, whose long ball helped engineer the breakthrough, to toast the smash-and-grab triumph.
Meanwhile, David Beckham shared the same reaction as those of PSG persuasion inside the Parc des Princes - complete bewilderment. Beckham must have been baffled by how his former club lost the game.
Slot warned his Liverpool players they were going to suffer against PSG. He was not wrong. Onslaught after onslaught came the Reds’ way. Had Khvicha Kvaratskhelia not narrowly strayed offside when finding the back of the net in the 20th minute, things could have been different. Had Ibrahima Konate been issued a red card for a collision with Bradley Bacola, the Reds could well have been on the end of an emphatic defeat.
But with tweaks to the way Liverpool pressed, coupled with the impact of substitutes yet again, a Paris heist was engineered. Some 47 seconds after coming off the bench, Elliott capitalised on a rare Reds attack. He was teed up by Darwin Nunez, who had also come off the bench and showed excellent vision to slip in the diminutive England under-21 international. Curtis Jones had helped keep the ball in a tight area beforehand. In addition, Wataru Endo’s know-how ensured Liverpool did not concede another opportunity in the dying embers.
Liverpool’s history is steeped in famous European wins. PSG will now be added to the likes of St Etienne, Chelsea, Barcelona and all of the six finals they have triumphed in. But the task is not over. Far from it. The Reds hold the advantage ahead of the second leg at Anfield next week but PSG will scarcely be afraid given how many times they carved Liverpool open.
Slot statistically believes that the Ligue 1 champions-elect are the best team in Europe. That could hardly be argued against based off the showdown in Paris. The Reds still very much have their work cut out to reach the quarter-finals.
Related topics:David BeckhamJamie CarragherArne Slot
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