Liverpool vs PSG: Reds boss Arne Slot believes they need best performance of season to beat French champions

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits his side will have to produce their best performance of the season to ensure Champions League progress against “the most complete team we have faced”.

After enduring the toughest night of his Anfield reign – and the most difficult for the players in a long time – in the Parc des Princes last week but still coming away with a 1-0 victory, the Dutchman knows they have to raise their game for the second leg of their last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

The talk in the French capital after Liverpool snatched a backs-to-the-wall win was that PSG had encountered better teams in the form of Bayern Munich and Arsenal this season.

However, Slot has promised they will be more proactive and not sit back on their slender advantage.

“Is there a difference [leading 1-0]? No. We try to play every game to try to win,” he said.

“That is also what we tried to do last week, it wasn’t our intention to be so low [deep] all the time.

“[On Tuesday] we want to play a different game, the intention is always the same – we are not going to go for a draw.

“At Manchester City away that wasn’t the situation, at PSG that wasn’t the situation. But we do take confidence from our home game against City where we did have the ball much more and it was much more of an equal game.”

Asked whether it would require their best performance under him so far, Slot added: “Yes. I do think so. This is the most complete team we have faced so far.

“We have faced Arsenal and City and they are not big margins but the intensity they [PSG] play at combined with the quality – and they are one of the richest clubs – and a great manager it is not easy to play against.”

‘PSG have improved since Arsenal and Bayern losses’

Statisticians have predicted Liverpool, incredibly, have an 84 per cent chance of progressing and history would appear to be on their side as on the 39 previous occasions they have won the first leg of a European tie they have gone through.

Their record at Anfield is formidable, having lost just once – in September – since April having won all but two of their other home matches this season.

“Some of them have said Arsenal and Bayern Munich were better than us. That is what I have heard,” said Slot on the French view of his team.

“I think what that has to do with is how PSG improved a lot in the two to three months since they played at Arsenal and Bayern.

“At Arsenal they were lower, waiting much more and now they just press all over the pitch and take the risk of one-v-one constantly.

“I cannot influence what they felt – and don’t even know if it is true or not – but I’m hoping they have a different opinion after [Tuesday].”

Slot has been boosted by the return of forward Cody Gakpo after an injury.

PSG boss Enrique says winner of tie will reach final

PSG head coach Luis Enrique believes the team which prevails in their last-16 tie against Liverpool at Anfield will be Champions League finalists.

“The most important game is the one which comes next and I hope it [the most important game] will be the last one of the season,” he said.

“Even though we’re trailing from the first leg we will be playing our own game from the outset. Regardless of the result [in Paris] we wouldn’t do anything different.

“At the moment we are out so our only option is to go out and win and that is what is driving us. I don’t think Arne Slot has much doubts about our starting XI, I’ve got my ideas about his starting XI as well.

“I’m not going to give away who we are going to play or how we are going to play but over the course of two games we will see two of the best teams in Europe, two contenders for the final and whoever goes through will go through to the final.”

Enrique is confident his team can cope with the pressure at a “historic stadium”.

“I am pretty convinced that absolutely every single one of my players will want to play,” he added.

“We know what Liverpool means with a historic stadium and a wonderful history. It’s a huge source of motivation for the players and we want to show we are capable of putting in a performance.

“It is difficult to manage one’s emotions and feelings, these are not easy games to prepare for and it is not easy to be at 100 per cent.

“But you don’t want to be at 105 or 110 per cent because you could get carried away, so you have to manage your emotions in the best possible way.”

Why PSG’s Champions League tie with Liverpool is far from over

Sky Sports’ Rich Morgan:

Liverpool may seemingly have one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after last week’s 1-0 win at Paris Saint-Germain but Slot’s side would be making a huge mistake if they were to underestimate the task facing them when the Ligue 1 champions visit Anfield for the return meeting.

History is certainly against the Parisians when they travel to Merseyside. Of the 27 previous teams to lose the first leg at home in a Champions League knockout tie, only three have progressed.

Meanwhile, on the seven occasions Liverpool have won the first leg away from home, they have gone on to win the return fixture three times, drawing twice and losing twice.

PSG should be warned, though, that even when the Reds did lose the second leg at Anfield, they still managed to make it through both times, in the last 16 against Barcelona in 2006/07 and Inter Milan in 2021/22.

In fact, only once have Liverpool ever won the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie and been eliminated, as happened when Gerard Houllier’s side beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 at Anfield in the last eight in 2001/02, only to go out after a 4-2 loss at the BayArena.

However, while the odds may appear very much stacked against PSG making it through to the quarter-finals – SkyBet give them a 7/4 chance of winning at Anfield – there are plenty of reasons to hope for Luis Enrique’s side.

Read the reasons why there is hope for PSG here.