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Slot gives Liverpool’s PSG Champions League defeat verdict, reveals why Salah did not feature
09th April, 2026 08:00 AM
An early goal from Desire Doue, added to by a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia strike midway through the second half, gave hosts PSG a 2-0 victory over Liverpool on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in a UEFA Champions League first-leg quarter-final tie at Parc des Princes.
The Reds now require a comeback at Anfield on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, if they are to advance to a semi-final against either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
Slot’s assessment
Following the setback, Liverpool manager Arne Slot shared an assessment of the first leg. On what chance he feels Liverpool have of progressing after this first-leg defeat, Slot said:
”Probably I have to refer to last season, which gives me the best feeling, and I have to refer to the history of this club: how much impact Anfield can make for a performance. We were outplayed here last season, which led to a 1-0 win from us, which was unbelievable,” Slot said.
”Paris Saint-Germain was by far the better team today and could have scored more than two goals. But the good thing was that the players of Liverpool today showed fighting spirit, kept going, every time or almost every time when they had a shot we had a lot of bodies behind the ball or protecting our box, which was necessary because what we said: if you don’t track back, if you don’t run back, these players, like the ones from [Manchester] City, are able to hurt you a lot,” he added.
”So, last season at Anfield we played a completely different game, after 10 minutes we could have been already 2-0 up. But we need to have a better performance and we definitely need our fans to help us to create an atmosphere where we can rise to a better level than we did in this game.”
Salah benched
On why Mohamed Salah didn’t feature in the game and the positive of Alexander Isak getting some minutes as a second-half substitution, Arne Slot said:
”I think in the last part of the game, it was more about surviving for us than there was ever a chance that we could score. Yeah, you never know, because last season we scored five minutes before the end, Harvey Elliott [scored] when I took Mo off.
“But I think this was a 20, 25 minutes where we were only defending and Mo has so much quality, but for Mo to be 20, 25 minutes defending inside his own box, I think it’s better for him to save his energy for a lot of games that are coming up in the upcoming weeks.” Slot said.
Meanwhile, Liverpool will need to dig deep to overcome the particular first-leg deficit when they host the defending champions at Anfield in the return fixture.
