Arne Slot has vows to make Liverpool major challengers for the Champions League next season after a penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain
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Slot and his players during a break in extra time (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Arne Slot has vowed to make Liverpool major challengers for the Champions League next season after revealing the penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain to be "the best game of football" he has ever been a part of.
The Reds were pegged back from their smash-and-grab victory in Paris last week by Ousmane Dembele's first-half strike at Anfield and despite dominating large parts of the game, the Premier League leaders were unable to break the PSG resolve.
The Ligue 1 champions eventually prevailed in the shootout, winning 4-1 after Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed for the hosts in the last-16 tie and while Slot was full of praise for the quality of the match overall, he also insisted his team will once more be a credible threat to land a seventh European Cup for the club next term.
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"It was the best game of football I was ever involved in," Slot said. "I don't have the history like Liverpool but those first 25 minutes were unbelievable. Two teams had an incredible level and intensity in the first 25 minutes. I also remember the first 25 against Manchester City and Real Madrid but this was unbelievable what we showed in the first 25.
"Over 90 minutes I don’t think we deserved to lose, over 180 maybe it was deserved that we went to overtime (extra time). In overtime I thought maybe PSG was better than us. Then it comes down to penalties and they scored four.
"Of course it is a shock and maybe this is not the moment to tell them (the players) now, but I can see it here that we weren’t involved in the Champions League last season and two seasons ago, we went out to Real Madrid after losing 5-2 at home.
"So if you have to go out, go out the way we did against one of the best teams in Europe and making such a fight. I hope every fan around the world was hoping this game wouldn’t stop because it was incredible. For us it is so unlucky that if you are no 1 in the league table you face PSG who are one of the best teams in Europe.
"It is so unlucky for us that if we are No.1 in the league table we play this team, one of the best in Europe. But we will come back."