Slot Talk: “We Know We Need an Exceptional Performance to Go Through”

Liverpool, European nights at Anfield, and famous comebacks have always gone well together. And compared to some of their past endeavours, the 2-0 deficit they would need to overcome at home tonight to advance past Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter final hardly seems insurmountable.

Certainly it’s a comeback that on paper would seem plausibly manageable, at least when compared to overturning a 3-0 deficit as the Reds did against Barcelona in their famous 2018-19 semi-finals or overturning a 3-0 deficit at the half against AC Milan in Istanbul in order to win the 2005 Champions League final.

Paris Saint-Germain, though, are a side that has outplayed Liverpool in three meetings over this season and last. Arne Slot’s side managed a 1-0 road win in their first meeting last season, but they were massively outplayed in the game and won thanks to a monumental performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

Add in the part where the defending Premier League champions and consensus winners of last year’s transfer window trophy have fallen well short of expectation this season both when it comes to performances and results and that the mood around Anfield of late hasn’t been great and, well, it could be a tough task.

“First of all, it felt completely different as we all know, but the end result was 2-0,” head coach Arne Slot said when asked about the fortunate result in the first leg and the challenge his side now faces. “Second, we have shown so many times this season in big games that we are able to get a great performance.

“We have also shown a different face, I am completely aware of that, but many of our big games that we have played were very good. So there is a belief we can do special things tomorrow but we need to be very, very, very special tomorrow to achieve that because we are playing against the champions of Europe.”

Liverpool’s season continues to exist in an oddly uncertain, purgatorial state as we near the final month of the 2025-26 season. Often nothing at all has seemed to go right and the side looks to be slumping towards the worst outcome possible—and yet a highly successful season remains at least theoretically possible.

“We know we need an exceptional performance to go through,” Slot added. “But that’s completely normal if you face the champions of Europe 2-0 down. So we first focus on the job at hand and that is just to start aggressive, to make sure we can get back into the tie, and the best way of doing so is scoring the first goal.”