Arne Slot backs Liverpool to produce ‘great performance’ to beat PSG

Arne Slot has said Liverpool do not face an impossible task against Paris Saint-Germain but must produce the perfect performance to overcome the European champions in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool require another stirring Anfield comeback in Tuesday’s second leg to salvage their hopes of silverware having lost 2-0 at Parc des Princes last week. PSG were vastly superior in the first leg and should have won more comfortably, although their head coach, Luis Enrique, described such talk as “a trap” and claimed there will be “pitfalls” for his team at Anfield.

Both Slot and Dominik Szoboszlai exuded confidence at the pre-match press conference on Monday, with the Liverpool head coach insisting it will not be difficult to instil belief in his players for a make-or-break night at Anfield.

“First of all I’d remind the players of the score,” said Slot. “It was 2-0. It felt completely different on the night but the result was 2-0 and we have shown many times this season in big games that we are able to give a great performance. We have also shown a different side, I am aware of that, but for the ones that have been with me for the past one and a half years, in the 49 home games we played we were able to score two goals or more in 36. (It is 36 in 50 games since losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in September 2024.)

“Yes, we don’t play PSG in all 49 home games but we have played very strong opponents in the Champions League and Premier League. There is a belief we can do special things tomorrow but we need to be very, very special to achieve that as we are playing against the champions of Europe. That makes the task more complicated but not impossible.”

Asked where he found such belief, given Liverpool’s problems this season and their current run of three wins in nine games, Slot insisted he could give “one, two, 10 or 200” examples of his team performing at the level that will be necessary against PSG.

Arne Slot manages a smile in training but he sounded serious when he said Liverpool could turn the tie around against PSG. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Reuters

He added: “In first 35 minutes at the Etihad [against Manchester City in the FA Cup], did you expect us to be 4-0 down 20 minutes later? Would you expect us after losing 1-0 to Galatasaray to then win 4-0 and we could have scored eight or nine at home? The amount of times we have shown we can be much better than we were against PSG is clear. Even on Saturday against Fulham, it showed how important a goal can be to change momentum.

“We have to find the perfect balance, but to be offensive you need to have the ball and you need to do so many things well before your attackers can attack. In the history of this club you have seen so many players who are good offensively but also work so hard defensively. Both teams like to have the ball a lot. The last time we faced them they had the ball 70% so that is the first thing we have to change.”

Szoboszlai said Liverpool had to go “all in” from the first minute until the final whistle to knock out a PSG team who were given a free weekend to prepare for the second leg by France’s Ligue de Football Professionel. “I believe completely,” said Szoboszlai. “I think I can speak for all of the players – I want it so bad and in a one-off game anything can happen at Anfield.”

The Liverpool midfielder issued an apology of sorts for gesturing to fans after the Cup collapse at City. Szoboszlai insisted: “Maybe it was a misunderstanding between me and the fans. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Obviously, I know what the fans mean for this club and what this club means for the fans.

“If it was a misunderstanding then I apologise. But the fans can feel also that I’m not feeling better than them, I’m feeling exactly the same way as they do. And to make it clear, I’m with them and we are with them. Hopefully they are with us too.”

PSG forward Bradley Barcola is in the travelling squad having missed the first leg with an ankle ligament injury. Enrique, who delivered the club’s first Champions League title in style last season, beating Liverpool on penalties at Anfield in the last 16, warned his players the quarter-final is far from over.

“There could be pitfalls, there could be a trap here with people saying we won easily last week,” claimed the PSG coach. “That might be true, I don’t know, but things can change quickly in a football match so you need to take care of the details. If we concede then the game is really open. We don’t want to allow Liverpool to benefit from their fans and the noise they create, but that is also motivation for us.”