Arne Slot looked ahead to the Champions League quarterfinals against Paris Saint-Germain.
**Liverpool**landed a reunion with the holders of the premier club competition after beating **Galatasaray**4-1 in the Round of 16. They were decisively defeated 2-0 at the **Parc des Princes**thanks to strikes from **Desire Doue**and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Ousmane Dembele missed a second half sitter, Doue watched Giorgi Mamardashvili deny him a first half brace, and Ibrahima Konate could have conceded a penalty on two separate occasions in the French capital on Wednesday.
‘We need an exceptional performance’
But the Reds have to remain steadfast in their faith that they can turn around this tie. They have exited the **FA Cup**quarter-final against Manchester City and fallen far off the pace in the defence of their Premier League title. A return of no silverware after a significant spending spree would represent major disappointment for the club, and Slot seeks to prove the doubters on Tuesday evening.
They have already shown that they can raise the levels for the bright nights in midweek in this tournament, beating Real Madrid 1-0 and **Galatasaray**4-0 at **Anfield**earlier in the campaign.
“[We need to] remind them what the score was, that it was 2-0. It felt completely different, as we all know, but the end result was 2-0.
“Second of all, we have shown so many times this season in big games that we are able to get a great performance. We have also shown a different face, I am completely aware of that, but many of our games that we have played were very good as well, especially in big games.
“Not all of us have been together for one-and-a-half years, but for the ones that have been with me for the past one-and-a-half years, in the 49 home games we have played, 36 times we were able to score two goals or more.
“We did not play in all these 49 games against Paris Saint-Germain: I do understand that. But as we all know, the Premier League and the Champions League opponents that we had over here were also very strong and are very strong.
“There is a belief that we can do special things tomorrow, but we need to be very, very, very special tomorrow to achieve that because we are playing against the champions of Europe, so that makes the task more complicated but not impossible.
“We need an exceptional performance to go through to the next round, but that's completely normal if you face the champions of Europe and you're 2-0 down. Then to make people a bit more positive than you were trying just a second ago, we've also been able to score more than two goals once in a while.
"Let's first focus on the job at hand and that is just start aggressive, making sure we can get back into the tie and the best way of doing so is, of course, scoring the first goal, which we again know.
“‘Last season they scored the first goal over here and at Arsenal they scored their first goal...' So yes, I know that they will try to score the first goal, but that's definitely what we are going to try as well.”
‘To be offensive, you need to have the ball’
Tactics can make all the difference at the highest level, and Slot was under scrutiny for his choices last week. The Reds switched to a back five, using Jeremie Frimpong as a right wing-back and **Virgil van Dijk**as a right central defender in a formation that the Dutchman has never used in the past.
The pressing was pulled apart unceremoniously by the Parisians while the deep defence could not withstand the speed and quality of their opposition. With the need to grab goals to get back into the tie, it is unlikely that Slot shall select a back five again. But whatever he decides, his players must go in full throttle and be prepared to fight for control to take PSG to the edge on Tuesday evening.
“Usually in football I know how it works that if you change the system the focus is completely on the system, and not about what is actually happening. People find it probably very hard to believe what I am going to say now, but the approach is not so different for tomorrow than it was in Paris – for the people who know me, I never put out a team and tell them to go to a low block for 90 minutes.
“If you really looked at the game back you could see that we have pressed them high on multiple, multiple, multiple occasions. Unfortunately, seven or eight of those moments led to them being one-on-one to our goalkeeper. So, again, the approach tomorrow will be to take the initiative.
“That’s what we need to get the ball off them, you need to press them, and we saw how difficult it is to press these players. But that was the same last season, and Anfield did make a big difference for us last season, and I am expecting it to make a big difference for us tomorrow as well.
“To be offensive you need to have the ball and to get the ball back, you're mentioning two full-backs but against all these other players you have to do many things well before your attackers can attack. That's why the history of this club and other clubs you've seen players that are good offensively but are also able to do the defensive job, because the only way to score is if you have the ball.
“The thing is that tomorrow two teams are facing each other [and] both would like to have the ball a lot. The last time we faced each other, they had the ball for 76 per cent of the time, so that's the first thing we have to change tomorrow – to have the ball more. And if we have it more then it's nice to have attacking threat on the pitch and that's what we will have tomorrow.”