Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah leaving the pitch in tears after his team's penalty heartbreak
08:01, 12 Mar 2025Updated 08:01, 12 Mar 2025
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot laughed off the question(Image: Amazon Prime Video)
Arne Slot couldn't help but laugh when quizzed about the contract situations of his key players after Liverpool's gut-wrenching Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
The Reds' dreams of a treble and snagging their seventh European title were dashed in a brutal penalty shootout at Anfield. Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones had their spot-kicks thwarted by PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma, leaving the French titans to celebrate a 4-1 shootout triumph and a place in the quarter-finals.
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Ousmane Dembele bagged the sole goal in regular play, cancelling out Harvey Elliott's previous leg winner in Paris. Liverpool will be kicking themselves over squandered chances, especially Mohamed Salah, who fluffed two golden shots before Dembele found the net.
Salah was spotted devastated, shedding tears post-shootout, having been the lone Red to slot home a penalty. His emotional display is bound to spark fresh speculation about his future, with his contract ticking down to expiry this summer.
He's not alone; club captain Virgil van Dijk, plus vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, who hobbled off injured later on, are in the same contract limbo.
Mohamed Salah was left in tears
Mohamed Salah was left in tears after PSG knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
When pressed by Amazon Prime Video post-match about the trio's fate and whether it may have been Salah's last Champions League match, Slot wasn't biting, brushing off the question, reports Liverpool.com.
"That is the last thing I think about!" exclaimed Slot. "It is creative to come up with the contract situation."
He added: "It is tough, last season we weren't in the Champions League. Liverpool showed ourselves in this competition as we want to."
Reflecting on his team's loss, Slot said: "It was the best game of football where I was ever involved in. Incredible performance, especially compared to last week.
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"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.
"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. 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.
"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."