FEATURE | Three things we learned as PSG beat Liverpool to progress to the semi-final

FEATURE | Three things we learned as PSG beat Liverpool to progress to the semi-final

Defending UEFA Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain left Anfield with a victory for the second straight year, in order to progress to the semi-final stage of the competition with a 4-0 aggregate win. Although the Parisians had to weather a second-half storm, they were deserved winners over the two legs.

Liverpool may not have been the only losers of the night

Although it was a good night for the French side, it may prove to be a bad one for the national team. Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike was stretchered off midway through the first half after falling awkwardly on the slippery surface and sustaining what looks like a serious achilles injury which could rule him out of this summer’s World Cup.

Then five minutes into the second half, Désiré Doué limped off after being unceremoniously pushed into a combination of pitchside hoarding, mic and ballboy by Dominik Szoboszlai.

Doué was not the first PSG defender to limp off, Nuno Mendes leaving proceedings in the first half with a muscle strain and replaced by Lucas Hernandez.

PSG’s defence serve a reminder that it’s not all about their attack

Although it is PSG’s forward line that generally receives much of the attention, goalkeeper Matvey Safonov and centre backs Marquinhos and Willian Pacho played a big role in tonight’s win. Some had questioned whether Safonov could be as effective as Gianluigi Donnarumma in last year’s knock-out rounds. His six saves ensured that Liverpool never got their noses in front on the night, the pick of them a stunning close-range effort from Milos Kerkez in the first half.

From that save the ball fell to Virgil van Dijk who looked certain to score until Marquinhos pulled off a stunning block, which he celebrated as if he had scored.

When Liverpool put PSG under the cosh for the first half hour of the second half it was the two of them, plus Pacho (who rode his luck when a penalty given against him was overturned), who stood firm to ensure that Liverpool failed to score across the two legs.

Ousmane Dembélé the difference-maker in the end

Despite PSG dominating the majority of the tie, the Ballon d’Or did his best to keep it alive, following up his misses in the first leg with squandered chances here too, whether shooting over on the spin or passing to an off-side Achraf Hakimi when he could have shot himself.

But in the end his clever footwork and finish on 72 minutes put the tie to bed and his tap-in from a Bradley Barcola cross put the icing on the cake and made it three goals in his last two visits to Anfield.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith