Liverpool manager Arne Slot was left frustrated by his side’s Champions League exit and bemoaned what he felt was rotten luck for his side – while Wayne Rooney, in his role as a pundit covering the game, laid the blame for their exit on a surprise culprit.
The Reds finished top of the Champions League group table, winning seven of their eight games to establish themselves as the early favourites to win the competition. But when UEFA’s new format threw up a two-legged last-16 tie for Liverpool against crack Ligue 1 giants PSG, Liverpool knew they were in for a fiercely difficult clash.
And while both sides won the away leg 1-0 to set up a penalty shootout, it was the French side who triumphed 4-1 on spot-kicks after Gianluigi Donnarumma had denied both Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones.
While Liverpool started the game brightly, they were unable to make their chances count, and it was Ousmane Dembele who scored their solitary goal on the night to pull the tie level. The Reds did see two penalty appeals – one for Dominik Szoboszlai and another for Mo Salah – waved away, and it was the French side who ultimately reached the quarter-finals.
After the game, Slot felt the manner of their exit and the way the tie had thrown up a game against one of the best teams in Europe so early into the knockout stages.
“It is hard; last season, we weren’t in the Champions League. Liverpool showed ourselves in this competition as we want to,” the Dutchman told Amazon Prime.
“It was the best game of football where I was ever involved in. It was an incredible performance, especially compared to last week.
“First 20/25 minutes, we were all over them, created chance after chance and all of a sudden we were 1-0 down. Probably it was almost the opposite, maybe we ran out of luck because the margins were so small tonight.”
Slot added: “It feels unfair to go out at this round already, you’re at the top of the table then you face a team like PSG, but that’s also the nice part about football.”
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Slot didn’t want to comment about their penalty appeals but did feel luck was against his side as he continued: “Everybody around the world enjoyed watching this game and the margins are small, and if you want to win it you have to have some luck. We had it last week, I don’t think we had it today.”
And in a final message to his players and supporters, Slot concluded: “Now it’s clear what we have to do for the rest of the season, one league cup final and nine Premier League games to go.”
Meanwhile, pundit Rooney felt Virgil van Dijk needed to shoulder the blame for PSG’s winner on the night, accusing the Dutch defender of being “lazy”.
Speaking on Amazon Prime at half-time, Rooney said: “This goal from Liverpool’s point of view is wrong in so many ways. Van Dijk gets lazy. He is walking and leaves a massive gap to Dembele.
“All he needs to do is come across and cover. Dembele has a lot of space and gets the ball out wide. Konate doesn’t switch on and then Dembele gets the tap-in.”
Former Reds striker Daniel Sturridge felt a lack of communication was to blame, adding: “It is communication in moments like this. Virgil, Konate, Szoboszlai. Fair play to Dembele for staying engaged and following the chance. He finds himself in a position to score, but Liverpool will be very upset.”
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The Sweden striker could replace Nunez in the Reds’ attack next season, and now Sky Sports Switzerland have shed more light onthe Uruguayan’s future, revealing he is ready to quit Anfield for a mind-boggling reason.
Nunez could be one of a mass clearout at Anfield this summer, with a report revealing Slotthat has now added five names to an eight-strong exit list.
And finally, our sources have confirmed that calls are being made by the Reds over a deal to sign top summer target Milos Kerkez and with sources revealing the truth about a release clause in the left-back’s contract at Bournemouth.