Liverpool are clearly heading into Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final with PSG in terrible shape, and the French clearly know it.
Few Reds fans have much hope that their team can turn up and do something special in Paris, but the fact that their opponents are seemingly ultra confident ahead of the match should give them a will to fight at the very least.
Ahead of Wednesday’s first leg, former France international Christophe Dugarry has given a withering assessment of Liverpool which should hurt the players – and Arne Slot – and if they have any professional pride left at all, should make them want to do everything they can to prove him wrong.
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PSG players celebrate after scoring during the Ligue 1 match against Toulouse at the Parc des Princes (Credit: Getty Images/Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images
Dugarry says PSG will have a ‘walk in the park’ against Liverpool
Though he technically has no affiliation with PSG, Dugarry is a prominent French pundit having won the World Cup with Les Bleus in 1998.
And while speaking to RMC Sport‘s ‘Rothen s’enflamme’ show on Monday, he said exactly what he thinks of Liverpool heading into this game.
“It’s going to be a walk in the park, honestly, Liverpool are disastrous,” he declared. “14 wins, 10 losses, and 7 draws since the start of the season in the league. They’re catastrophic. I’m not going to say they have bad players, but they don’t play together. In my opinion, the difference in level is colossal. I think PSG will wrap up the quarter-final in the first leg.”
Liverpool players during loss to Man City
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“Have you seen Liverpool play? They’re catastrophic! They have no legs, they have nothing. Technically they have good players, they’re not clumsy, but they play at a snail’s pace. When you see the intensity Paris Saint-Germain manages to bring today, with their legs back, with their mental strength and everything else they’ve regained. There’s no comparison between the two teams. It’s going to be a massacre!”
If that was not bad enough, Dugarry went on to claim that Liverpool – six times champions of Europe – will arrive in Paris ‘terrified’ to face Luis Enrique’s team.
“They’re scared,” he said. “Every English team has been thrashed for about a year and a half. Now they’re all afraid of Paris Saint-Germain. I guarantee you they’ll arrive terrified.”
Though PSG are favourites, Dugarry would do well to remember that a dismal Reds team rocked up at the Parc des Princes and won last season. How many times does this kind of fighting talk come back to bite? Slot should get this up in the dressing room and tell his team to remind the world exactly who they are.
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In fairness to Dugarry, many football fans will likely agree with his prediction for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final.
However, strange things can happen in football, and pride does tend to come before a fall.
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The UEFA Champions League trophy is displayed on a plinth before the final.
Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images
Enrique and his team will be wary of Liverpool despite their current form having been run close by the Reds last season, so there is perhaps little chance of underestimation there.
But in terms of Dugarry and the French press who will likely hold similar views, that will sting for those Liverpool players who see themselves as being amongst the best in the world. They must summon finally summon some anger and silence this kind of talk.
There is, of course, a chance that they are blown away by PSG and the tie is effectively ended on Wednesday. As Saturday’s capitulation against Manchester City showed, that is far from being beyond Liverpool.
This team has also stood up to be counted at times this season, though, especially in Europe, and with everyone so sure that they will be beaten, there should be little pressure on them. After Saturday’s dismal defeat, Slot may have been wondering how to rally his players, but that job has now been done for him.
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