UCL Review: PSG Dominate Liverpool In 2-1 Victory

PSG stamped themselves as contenders in their 2-1 victory over Liverpool in Wednesday’s Champions League fixture.

The win moves PSG up to second place in Group C and drops Liverpool down to third, turning the pressure onto Juergen Klopp’s team heading into the last round of games.

The concession of poor goals, easy goals, has been a theme of this Champions League campaign and it continued here. It took just 13 minutes for PSG to find holes in the Reds’ armoury.

It was a poor goal to concede at any level, let alone the highest. Liverpool’s midfield, a worry among supporters prior to kick-off, was bypassed far too easily and when Mbappe worked the ball across the area, the response of first Virgil van Dijk and then Dejan Lovren was too casual, allowing Bernat, the unlikeliest of scorers, to break the deadlock inside the near post.

As Liverpool’s central trio toiled, a point emphasised by a Milner free-kick which he struck straight out of play, Marco Verratti stood out initially.

The Italian, a composed yet scurrying presence, dominated proceedings early on, though he was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for a high, studs-up challenge on Joe Gomez. Not for the last time, referee Szymon Marciniak baffled with his decision-making. “For me, it is a red card,” Klopp said. “It was certainly not the same colour as the other 500 yellow cards.”

PSG’s second goal was to be admired, a lightning-quick combination between Mbappe and Neymar which ripped Liverpool apart down their right-hand side.

“It was our last chance to show that we are capable of fighting against a team like Liverpool and Liverpool has an incredible mentality,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel said. “We defended incredibly well. Everyone was ready to suffer for the other one.” Neymar gave PSG a deserved 2-0 lead against a static Liverpool side, whose only attacks in the first half were predictable and slow forays down the right.

Liverpool were gifted a great chance to get back into the match on the stroke of halftime when forward Sadio Mane was clumsily tripped by Angel Di Maria and veteran midfielder James Milner coolly sent Gianluigi Buffon the wrong way from the penalty spot. Liverpool had the better of the second half but failed to create clear scoring chances, with Mohamed Salah particularly ineffective and easily marked by burly center-back Presnel Kimpembe.

Tuchel strengthened his defence late in the game by replacing Di Maria with veteran defender Dani Alves and took off Cavani- PSG’s all-time leading scorer — for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Cavani controversially walked straight past him and refused his offer of a handshake.

Klopp was quick to criticise referee Szymon Marciniak and took a swipe at Neymar and other PSG players for what he considered to be play-acting. “There was a little hurdle with the 500,000 interruptions in the second half, and the referee did nothing. In England, we are high up in the fair play table, but tonight we looked like butchers,” Klopp said. “It was clever of PSG, Neymar — especially him — but a lot of players went down as if it was really serious.” Klopp wanted PSG’s players to be punished more often.

“You act like you die and the next moment you get up. It could be a yellow card. You could do that. Everybody’s going down,it’s not football anymore,” Klopp said.

Neymar had been in doubt for Wednesday’s clash after suffering an injury while on international duty with Brazil earlier this month.

“I was not 100 percent,” Neymar told reporters, via L’Equipe .

“But it was an important match so, injured or not, I had to be there.”

Liverpool’s European dreams depend on the visit of Napoli in a fortnight’s time. Jurgen Klopp’s side will need to beat the Italians 1-0 or by two clear goals in order to progress to the last 16 of a competition they had designs on winning at the start of the season.

“We need Anfield again, we need a great atmosphere,” Klopp said. “We have to make a special night of it if we want to go through.”

Do-able, of course, but hardly a situation that will appeal to even the most optimistic of Reds. Yet again their team will walk the tightrope in their final group match and the Europa League, which awaits them if they fail, is no safety net.

PSG return to Ligue 1 action to face off against Bordeaux on Sunday, with the club looking to extend an already sizeable 15-point lead atop the table.

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