Arne Slot suggested that all eyes will be on Liverpool come Wednesday evening, and he’s probably right.
Liverpool meet Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League. Next week, Anfield awaits the dominant Ligue 1 champions, but first, the Reds must do battle in the French capital.
PSG haven’t lost domestically this term, but they have endured a tough start to Europe’s revamped format, finishing 15th after winning only one of their first five fixtures, defeated by Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Though Liverpool, top of the Premier League, leaders during the Champions League group phase, will be favourites, PSG are dangerous and dynamic, led by the free-scoring Ousmane Dembele.
They’ve won ten matches in a row and lost in any competition since facing Bayern in November. Luis Enrique oversaw a 10-0 aggregate victory over Brest during the first knockout stage. ‘Expect fireworks’ might be a suitable phrase, but then fireworks can be disappointing.
Instead, prepare for a tough two-legged affair, one that will see both teams enjoy positive moments.
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Slot is confident, his team are confident. Here we go.
Liverpool injury news before PSG
Liverpool have enjoyed a far easier ride on the injury front this term than last, but this is not a bout of divine luck, this is down to Slot and his crew’s acumen, their system and recovery programmes.
That said, the Premier League side will enter the Parisian den with a few absences. Namely, Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley continue to sit on the sidelines, neither expected to play in either leg. Elsewhere, rarely-used Tyler Morton continues to recover from a shoulder issue.
However, the latest concern is that Cody Gakpo – who missed matches against Aston Villa and Manchester City last month in the Premier League – was absent from training on Tuesday, casting his availability into doubt.
PSG are swatting domestic rivals away like half-hearted flies, but this Slot machine is a different beast. Liverpool have only gone from strength to strength under Slot’s wing, and that’s despite having opted against making significant improvements to the first team.
They haven’t met often, but Liverpool will need to right one unwanted record this evening.
Liverpool's record vs PSG
Liverpool last met PSG in Group C of the Champions League in 2018/19. It was the season, of course, that saw Jurgen Klopp lift his first major honour as Reds boss, beating Tottenham Hotspur in the final of Europe’s most-coveted competition.
To get there, the Merseysiders had to battle through a tough group phase comprised of PSG, Napoli and Red Star Belgrade. Liverpool lost each of their away fixtures, scraping through on the final day with a 1-0 win over Naples opposition.
They started on perfect footing, however, with Roberto Firmino scoring a late winner to seal a 3-2 victory over Thomas Tuchel’s side.
Curiously, the respective sides have only met four times in their competitive history, each winning both of their home matches. Before the 2018/19 season, Liverpool faced PSG in the 1996/97 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-finals – an obsolete inter-country tournament that hosted domestic cup champions – but were beaten on aggregate. The French side lost to Barcelona in the final.
18/19
Champions League (H)
3-2 win
18/19
Champions League (A)
2-1 loss
96/97
Cup Winners’ Cup (H)
2-0 win
96/97
Cup Winners’ Cup (A)
3-0 loss
Liverpool will need to be on their a-game if they are to avoid defeat in Paris for the first time, and Slot is going to need to make some tough decisions in the final third.
How Liverpool should set their frontline
In an alternate universe, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia could be a part of Slot’s Liverpool frontline as they take on PSG for a place in the quarter-finals. Instead, he’s on the opposite number.
In January, the runaway Ligue 1 leaders added the Georgia international to their ranks after a swift and concerted attack, signing Napoli’s superstar for about £59m after Liverpool had expressed an interest in doing a deal.
Kvarakshelia, a left flanker, is electric of pace and deadly in front of goal, scoring and assisting in PSG’s 7-0 win over Brest in the previous round.
However, Liverpool have devastating options of their own, and with Gakpo potentially sidelined, Slot will be looking to walk down a different track.
Instead, the English side may keep Luis Diaz on the left flank, for the tricky wideman could be the perfect answer to a player of Kvaratskhelia’s ilk.
Liverpool have demonstrated their quicksilver tactical ability in recent weeks, moving through different styles to suit the match-up with the given opponent.
For example, the stunning 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium last month was achieved through Diaz’s pace and potency on the left flank and Dominik Szoboszlai’s unrelenting energy in the middle. Liverpool only saw 34% of the ball against Manchester City, but it mattered not, with Slot’s side in control throughout.
How does this pertain to the forthcoming clash? Well, PSG are going to want the ball: in Ligue 1, the unbeaten table-toppers have averaged 68% possession, a sure marker of their dominance if there ever was one.
However, this translates onto the continental stage.
1.
Bayern Munich
67.5
2.
Manchester City
63.4
3.
Paris Saint-Germain
62.5
4.
Barcelona
61.5
5.
Bayer Leverkusen
59.1
9.
Liverpool
54.3
Almost flawless, group phase-topping Liverpool, not among the best ball retainers. Makes you think, huh?
Liverpool are more than comfortable letting a team ‘dominate’. We saw against Pep Guardiola’s side the masterful display of counter-pressing, pounce, dispossess, break, score.
Diaz will be crucial in enacting this vision. The 28-year-old is not only a “deadly” goalscorer – as reporter Lewis Steele hailed him after a hat-trick against Leverkusen in November – but he’s a crisp and dynamic team player.
Moreover, the Kvaratskhelia is one of the Colombian’s most statistically comparable players, as per FBref, with his dribbling skills and incisiveness maybe even trumping that of his counterpart.
Diaz ranks among the top 7% of positional peers in the Champions League this season for goals scored, the top 13% for pass completion and the top 19% for successful take-ons per 90.
Gakpo is a fantastic goalscorer, and if he’s unavailable, will be missed. However, Diaz’s fleet-footedness and link-up play will be crucial in the Parisian den, and could be the template for victory anyway. It worked a treat against City after all.
Liverpool’s Netherlands forward has scored in seven successive starting appearances at Anfield, and thus Slot will be sweating over his fitness ahead of next week’s reverse fixture, when PSG, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia and the rest meet the stentorian Merseyside support.
For now, Diaz has a job to do, putting Liverpool in a good position for the contest’s midpoint.
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