Harvey Elliott’s late goal 47 seconds after coming on helped Liverpool to a stunning smash-and-grab win as they beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie.
Arne Slot’s side faced 27 of the game’s 29 shots, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia having a stunning goal disallowed for offside and Ibrahima Konate fortunate not to be sent off, but the Premier League leaders stole it when Elliott swept home in the 87th minute.
Liverpool have accumulated many dominant wins under Slot this season, but one suspects they will cherish this even more. PSG produced enough to be a threat back at Anfield on Tuesday but they will surely feel they have missed their chance in Paris.
With a 13-point lead in the Premier League and having finished top of the league phase in this new Champions League format, Liverpool have a credible claim to be the best team in Europe right now. “We have to win it before you can say this,” argued Slot.
PSG, on a run of 10 wins on the bounce coming into this, seemed to agree, tearing into Liverpool and creating chance after chance in the first half. They needed Alisson at his best and a couple of close VAR calls to go their way to make it to the break still level.
Slot talked of PSG having “three fighter jets” in attack following the acquisition of Kvaratskhelia in the transfer window with Luis Enrique having gone on to see his team win every subsequent game in which his front three had started prior to this clash.
It was obvious why given the displays of both the Georgian and Ousmane Dembele. Kvaratskhelia was just offside when he curled the ball brilliantly into the corner. Bradley Barcola was then clearly shoved by Konate but the officials somehow missed it.
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Paul Merson reacts to Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate escaping a red card
Liverpool have lost games this season but never had to weather an onslaught like this, Alisson saved from Dembele. Dominik Szoboszlai blocked from Barcola. Joao Neves came close too. No wonder Slot admitted he would have preferred to face Benfica.
The best save of the lot came late on from substitute Desire Doue, when Alisson dived away to his left to prevent the ball going right into the far corner. Those heroics proved crucial when Elliott, on as a substitute for the quiet Mohamed Salah, had his moment.
Alisson, who else, started the move when he went long to Darwin Nunez and the striker did so well to hold the ball up, showing composure to spread the ball wide into the path of Elliott. Gianluigi Donnarumma should have done better. Liverpool will not care.
Slot: Even a draw would have been lucky!
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Liverpool boss Arne Slot admits his team were very fortunate to come away with a win
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot speaking in the press conference:
“Had we got a draw, we would still have been the lucky ones. They were much the better team today. In the first half, they had many chances. In the second half, they were still the better team.
“In the first half they had three or four open chances, one-on-ones, a cut back that just went over the bar. And the moment that Dembele went one-on-one and the ball came back and two or three chances in a row, so in the first half it was almost a miracle that it was 0-0.”
Vinny’s verdict from Paris
Sky Sports News’ Vinny O’Connor in the Parc des Princes:
Everything Alisson did tonight was exemplary. The difference tonight was that when Donnarumma needed to make his one meaningful save he couldn’t get enough on it.
Smash and grab, name on the cup, trot out all the cliches you like but it doesn’t take away what a moment that was for Harvey Elliott in a season where he’s struggled for game time…replacing Mo Salah with just minutes to go and he snatches the first leg winning goal.
But this was a win built on Alisson’s brilliance.
Player of the match: Alisson
Alisson was the star of the show, making 10 saves for Liverpool against Paris Saint-Germain
Alisson, asked on TNT Sports if this was his best performance of the season…
“Probably of my life. The manager told us how hard it would be and we had to be ready to suffer. They have so much quality. We gave away so many chances but in the end with Harvey coming in and scoring the goal, it is unbelievable. A great story. A great night.
“They are a really good team. Hopefully, we can play a better game in the second game at home. We have to recognise the quality in the PSG team, having the ball, creating chances. It was a tough night but a happy end.”
Goalscorer Harvey Elliott on Alisson…
“He is the best in the world. He shows it every game, keeping us in so many games. Tonight was my opportunity to repay him. Without him, I don’t know where we’d be. Hopefully he can keep keeping them out and we can keep finishing chances.”
Every shot that Alisson faced in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain
Carragher: Arguably the greatest of his career
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher speaking to CBS Sports:
“The last time Liverpool won this competition, Alisson Becker made a save against Napoli in the last group game of the group stage. Liverpool could have gone out had Napoli scored. That is always looked back on as a defining moment.
“That wasn’t a save tonight. That was arguably the greatest performance of his career, certainly in a Liverpool shirt. And if Liverpool go on to win this competition – which they have a good chance of, they’re a lot better than what we saw tonight – then that performance will be remembered for years to come.”
Elliott for Salah switch pays off
Elliott earned his big moment. Nuno Mendes had been handed the most difficult task in football in shutting down Salah but he did it superbly. Job done? Not quite. Mendes’ failure to track Elliott’s run was ruthlessly punished by the substitute.
Perhaps the PSG left-back had assumed that Elliott had been brought on as a negative tactic, to see the game out with a more defensive mindset than Salah. Instead, when Nunez succeeded in holding the ball up, Elliott sprang forward at pace.
Mendes knew. His hands went to his head in sheer frustration as the ball crept past Donnarumma into the far corner. It was a reminder that while there are superstars in this Liverpool team, no defender can sleep on their substitutes either.
Liverpool’s stunning win in stats
- Liverpool won this match despite having 25 fewer shots than PSG – the joint-largest negative difference in shots by a winning team on record in a Champions League knockout stage game.
- Liverpool kept their sixth clean sheet in nine Champions League matches this season.
- PSG had 27 shots in this match – the second-most on record by a side in a Champions League knockout match in which they both failed to score and lost, behind only PSG themselves against Borussia Dortmund last season.
- Liverpool have won three successive matches while keeping a clean sheet each time in all competitions for the second time this season, and first since doing so in their first three games under Arne Slot.
- Paris SG have now lost each of their last four knockout stage games against English sides in the Champions League.
- Harvey Elliott’s goal in the 87th minute, his first touch after coming on as a substitute, was Liverpool’s latest ever winning goal in a knockout stage match in the Champions League.
- Elliott has scored three goals in four Champions League appearances this season, more than he netted in his first nine appearances in the competition.
- Alisson made nine saves against PSG, the most on record by a Liverpool goalkeeper in a single Champions League match.
