Arne Slot has had a Paris Saint-Germain obsession since the two teams met last season, with Liverpool’s head coach having readily sought to reference the French outfit.
Liverpool were knocked out at the last 16 stage in the Champions League last season by eventual winners PSG, and Slot quickly became consumed by the French side.
In press conferences and media interviews, he sought to reference PSG time and time again, much to the frustration of supporters, as it was not the Reds’ finest two-legged tie.
Liverpool-PSG 2025: Stats Over 2 Legs
Statistic Liverpool PSG
Possession 38% 62%
Total Shots 21 48
Shots on Target 4 18
Big Chances 4 7
Expected Goals (xG) 1.78 4.41
Final Score (Agg) 1 1*
* Data via FotMob. PSG progressed 4-1 on penalties following a 1-1 aggregate draw over 210 minutes.
Since Liverpool were knocked out last March, they have won 29 of their 57 games in all competitions, losing a staggering 19, for a win percentage of 50.9%.
His references have thankfully dwindled in recent weeks, but with a quarter-final tie looming, let’s look back on Slot’s extensive mentioning of PSG.
‘Hoping this game wouldn’t stop’ – March 2025
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot after the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
In the aftermath of being knocked out by PSG at Anfield, Slot felt it was an “incredible” spectacle that he hoped left those watching wishing it would never end:
“I hope every fan around the world was hoping this game wouldn’t stop because it was incredible.
“Over 90 minutes I don’t think we deserved to lose, over 180, maybe it was deserved. We went to extra time.
“In extra time I thought maybe PSG was better than us. Then it comes down to penalties, and they scored four.”
March 2025
‘Richest clubs in the world’ – March 2025
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé scores the first goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
There was also a reference to the financial power of PSG in the aftermath, with Liverpool ‘unlucky’ to have faced them when they did:
“It was the best game of football that I was ever involved in.
“Normally you face these teams in the semi-final and the final, but unfortunately we had to face Paris Saint-Germain, one of the richest clubs in the world, already in this round.”
March 2025
‘Harder to take than Carabao Cup final loss’ – April 2025
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, March 5, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot before the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 1st Leg game between Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Liverpool were knocked out by PSG and lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle in the same week, but it was the former that was harder for Slot to take:
“For me, the Paris Saint-Germain game was harder to take than the Newcastle one.
“For 90 minutes in the Newcastle game, I only felt we had a chance to get a result after Federico scored. And that was only five or six minutes of extra time, but we did not play extra time.
“In the Newcastle game, it just felt almost for the whole game, at the end of the game you were almost coming close to accepting it. The whole game you felt it was coming.
“The Paris Saint-Germain game took me longer to get over because we were so, so, so close to getting to the quarter-finals.
“Against Paris Saint-Germain, you didn’t feel it coming. I felt in the second half that our goal was coming. So that was a bigger disappointment for me than losing the final against Newcastle.”
April 2025
‘My football is PSG vs. Liverpool’ – January 2026
Even nine months later, Slot used the PSG tie as a shield against critics of his tactical approach:
“My football is Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool, Liverpool vs. Paris Saint-Germain.
“That is how I would love to have every single game, but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice.
“Against Fulham, I don’t think many people thought it was a joy to watch. I have said many times I found our games against Paris Saint-Germain a joy to watch.
“So compare these games with each other and ask yourself why one is a joy to watch and the other is harder to watch.”
January 2026
‘That helped us in winning the league’ – January 2026
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot during a post-match press conference after the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool FC and Qaraba? FK at Anfield. Liverpool won 6-0.(Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Then came statements that had fans questioning his future as he appeared to have credited last season’s exit from the Champions League for winning the title, despite being 16 points ahead at the time:
“This is not going to be a popular opinion, what I’m going to tell you now. But maybe the reason why we won the league last season is that we had to play Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16.
“As you know, they beat us, and we had every time a week to prepare for our next game. Maybe that has helped us as well.
“Maybe if we had to double that program, which Arsenal had to, and they dropped a few points in that period of time, that has helped us in winning the league.”
January 2026
‘I wanted to go all the way’ – January 2026
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot speaks to the assistant referee during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Slot then sought to hit back at the out of context reaction to his controversial abovementioned comments, clarifying that it was about avoiding injuries rather than downplaying the title success:
“I said that it might (extra rest) – might, I used the word might, but apparently not everybody is listening properly – have helped us that we lost against Paris Saint-Germain.
“I was not happy losing against Paris Saint-Germain. I wanted to go all the way with that team; that team was strong enough to win the Champions League as well.
“And we were by far the best team in the league, so we completely deserved to win the league.
“But if you are the best team in the league, then you need those players available. This season shows that if we have to play many games, sometimes you can get injuries as well.
“And that’s what I meant: we did not face injuries after we went out against Paris Saint-Germain.”
January 2026
‘Sometimes we need a bit of luck’ – March 2026
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister is challenged by Paris Saint-Germain's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (R) during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The references continued one year on, with PSG namechecked when Slot was asked about the aims for Liverpool’s season before the draw against Tottenham:
“Sometimes we need a bit of luck, like the last-16 last year, penalties, so close to beating PSG, and they went on to win it.
“So the margins are small and we have to fight for them to make them bigger and bigger every day.”
March 2026
‘Best game I’ve managed in my career’ – March 2026
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé celebrates after scoring the first goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
After beating Galatasaray and booking a rematch with PSG, Slot reiterated that the second leg at Anfield “was the best game I’ve managed in my career”:
“I’ve said many times that it was the best game I’ve managed in my career, even though we lost, in terms of how it was played with both teams playing football the way it should be played and wanting to entertain the fans.
“We were the only team to take them to extra time and penalties last season, and this performance tonight gives me confidence we can have this performance again.”
March 2026
‘They won’t be that happy to play against us’ – March 2026
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, March 18, 2026: Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates after scoring the first goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Galatasaray A.?. at Anfield. Liverpool won 4-0 (4-1 on aggregate). (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Finally, Slot praised PSG after their quarter-final was confirmed, but claimed even they “won’t be that happy to play against us”:
“Last season, when we lost against them, we were completely outplayed away from home. I think we played a great game at Anfield, and in the end, we lost on penalties.
“To be fair, they haven’t dropped their standards [laughs]. It was hardly possible for them to improve, but they’ve been very impressive until now.
“I think after seeing our performance tonight [vs. Galatasaray], they won’t be that happy to play against us, especially because last season we were the only team that could bring them to extra time and penalties.”
March 2026
The next installment of Liverpool vs. PSG is upon us, but will it end the same way for Slot and Co.?