Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Liverpool 0 PSG 2 in the 2025-2026 Champions League quarter-final second-leg at Anfield…
LIVERPOOL don’t deserve to lose the game but they don’t deserve to go through.
This was the case a year ago. This is the case again today.
Liverpool did an excellent job second-half of getting into and around the Paris St. Germain penalty area but then the choice was wrong. Or the choice was right but the execution was wrong. Or the man wasn’t beaten. Or the shot was misplaced. Or the pass poorly weighted. Or the bounce of the ball was poorly anticipated.
This wasn’t misfortune. It was a side who have lacked quality in key moments all season lacking quality in its most key moment. A side who have so often failed to score when on top continuing to fail to score when on top. Why this especially sticks in the craw today is that it is such an effort of will to simply get on top that not taking advantage of it hurts as much if not more than it has through the campaign.
The whole of this wasn’t for the want of trying, nor was it for the want of playing well between the boxes. In the first-half it’s valid to wonder if Liverpool are waving or drowning but in the second-half Liverpool are playing well, denying PSG of oxygen, forcing them in on themselves and making them fight for their lives.
And to their credit this is precisely what PSG did. They scrapped their way through it knowing the scoreboard was on their side and knowing they could still make it count on the counter. It is always fascinating to watch great sides roll their sleeves up and fight for their lives and it is fair to say that this PSG side doesn’t seem quite as imperious as last season’s while having the experience of being last season’s champions. They will want this trophy prizing out of their hands but it feels like Bayern Munich will have the capacity to bring that about.
The first-half was compelling; PSG’s quality and movement clear for all to see but what was underneath as the half drew to a close was inviting for Liverpool – they were tiring. Don’t get me wrong, the Reds were hanging on for dear life themselves but the flame of PSG intensity just started to flicker and while 0-0 at the break was a fraying thread, Liverpool got there. It allowed the manager to make changes and he got them right. Liverpool were better, more direct and suddenly the game had turned.
But not enough. Mo Salah and Florian Wirtz are at either ends of their Liverpool careers and you hope the latter’s is as impressive as the former when all is said and done but tonight while they are good at finding each other, neither shows the quality or poise you’d expect or Liverpool ultimately need.
Instead Liverpool keep faltering when either are in the box and the collective shooting from distance never works the goalkeeper anywhere near enough. The introduction of Rio Ngumoha comes at the expense of a Joe Gomez who was playing well but is made to keep Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister all on the pitch. The feeling persists that that gilds the lily but managers love Mac Allister and feel he can bring something.
He nearly brings a penalty. But that and the sub slightly deflates Liverpool’s balloon. Ousmane Dembele then pops it entirely with precisely the sort of finishing from the edge of the area Liverpool were lacking. There were good Liverpool performances across the pitch. On another night you’d call both centre-backs heroic but Liverpool were devoid of the sort of heroes that matter on evenings like this – the ones that take extreme pressure and come up with diamonds.
It’s a poor season, not because of tonight but because of what has led up to it since September. It doesn’t need to be a damaging one if Liverpool take the intensity shown in this second-half and use it on Sunday, and in all remaining home games. They’ll be back in this competition next season. But if/when they are, they need more cutting edge.
Across four games against Paris St Germain the best Liverpudlian touch has been Darwin Nunez’s. The best Liverpudlian finish has been Harvey Elliott’s. The game goes that way sometimes but Liverpool in the round, the Liverpool above Arne Slot and the one coached by Arne Slot or any successor need that to cease to be the case pretty soon in the key games in this competition.
Time to be better. Starts Sunday. Can’t think of anywhere better.
Subscribe for immediate post-match reaction from around the ground…
