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Liverpool look to reach the Champions League quarter-finals as they hold a 1-0 aggregate lead over PSG.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s international coach has told Liverpool how they can stop the Paris Saint-Germain star in tonight’s Champions League showdown.
The Reds take a slender 1-0 aggregate lead into the last 16 second-leg tie at Anfield tonight. Arne Slot’s men earned a smash-and-grab victory at the Parc des Princes last week, with Harvey Elliott bagging an 87th-minute winner.
Liverpool had conceded 27 shots in total, with goalkeeper Alisson Becker making nine saves. Kvaratskhelia was rampant throughout the affair and had a goal disallowed in the first half after straying narrowly offside. The forward joined PSG in the January transfer window from Napoli for a reported fee of €80 million. He was a potent threat for the Italian side, helping them win the Serie A title in the 2022-23 season and has made a seamless transition at PSG.
The Reds will have to be on their mettle to repel Kvaratskhelia, who also starred for Georgia at Euro 2024. David Webb is the assistant coach of the national team and knows the quality that the 24-year-old possesses. Webb believes Liverpool could look to go man-to-man to shackle Kvaratshkelia, but it would have problems in itself - and defending spaces in and around the box could be more prudent.
What’s been said
“He can play on both sides and has a lot of freedom and rotation,” former Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth scout Webb told talkSPORT. “Obviously he has the defensive structure behind him where he doesn’t have to work as much off the ball, but in attack he has the licence to take up new spaces so his game is definitely developing and evolving.
"You could see against Liverpool [in the first leg] that he caused them loads of problems by not staying in that fixed position. He’s very hard to mark. There’s a couple of ways to go. You could go man-to-man so that he has that direct presence with him a lot more.
“But if you do that he roams a lot and it’ll be difficult to have that fixated pressure on him because it might disrupt Liverpool’s structure. I think what Liverpool could do is invite PSG onto them because they already have the 1-0 lead and the home advantage and restrict the spaces in and around where he plays so that they play more of a mid-block or slightly deeper.
“I don’t want to say that the first game was a little bit open but with PSG being at home and being in the ascendancy they were playing with a high line and were constantly pressuring Liverpool. They’ll look to do the same again in the second leg but Liverpool can afford to play more of a transition game against them and restrict their spaces so that he doesn’t get as much joy and freedom."
PSG attack
However, Kvaratskhelia is one of several top-class PSG forwards who Liverpool will have to thwart. Ousmane Dembele has been in prolific form this campaign, with his double in a 4-1 over Rennes last weekend moving his tally to 28 goals for the season.
Bradley Barcola is also in excellent form for Luis Enrique’s side and was on target against Rennes along with Gonçalo Ramos. Desire Doue also posed Liverpool plenty of issues when coming off the bench in last week’s encounter.
Related topics:PSGChampions League
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