Liverpool 0-1 PSG (Agg 1-1): 4-1 penalty shoot-out defeat sends Reds tumbling out of Champions League at Anfield

Liverpool are out of the Champions League after Paris Saint-Germain made history to knock them out on penalties at Anfield.

PSG were aiming to become the first team ever to knock Liverpool out of a European tie after the Reds had won the first leg away from home and achieved the feat from the spot after Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones saw penalties saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The French champions were coming into it with a 1-0 deficit from the game in Paris last week but Ousmane Dembele levelled it up early in the game from close range and, improbably, it finished 1-1 on aggregate with neither side able to find the net again.

Arne Slot’s side could count themselves unfortunate not to score, Mohamed Salah missing two presentable opportunities before Dembele’s goal and Dominik Szoboszlai having a goal disallowed for offside. Jarell Quansah came closest, his header coming back off the inside of the post.

But PSG were worthy of their win over the two legs and will now play the winner of Aston Villa and Club Brugge in the last eight.

Slot’s job is to pick up his players for the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, Nunez and Jones included, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate went off injured. The Premier League title awaits but Liverpool’s European dream is over for this season.

Slot: Best game ever involved in

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot speaking in the press conference:

“It was the best game of football I was ever involved in. I don’t have the history of Liverpool as a manager. Two teams at an incredible level.

“This was unbelievable what we showed in the first 25 minutes. Over 90 minutes I do not think we deserved to lose this game of football today. Over 180 minutes I think maybe it was deserved we went to overtime. In overtime, PSG were a bit better than us.

“Of course, it is a shock. Maybe it is not the moment to tell them now but last season we were not involved in the Champions League. If you have to go out, then go out how we did against one of the best teams in Europe and making a fight of it.”

Van Dijk: It was there for Liverpool

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk speaking to Amazon Prime Video:

“It was a very intense, great game of football to be part of. It was totally there for Liverpool, with what we showed in Paris. In Paris, we struggled but we won. Today, we saw a very good Liverpool side, but we are out of the competition.”

Unfinished business for Liverpool?

There will be huge frustration in Liverpool because going into this game it all seemed ahead of them. With the hard work seemingly having been done in Paris, they were well placed for a likely tie with Aston Villa for which they would have been heavy favourites.

As Luis Enrique, the PSG coach, had put it beforehand, ‘Whoever wins will go through to the final, I have no doubt.’ Whether he is right or not, it will not now be Liverpool. With the title all but secure, the Carabao Cup final suddenly becomes their biggest game left.

They will surely do so without Trent Alexander-Arnold even if Slot played down the apparent injury to Ibrahima Konate. But how will Darwin Nunez be feeling after this unfortunate cameo, Curtis Jones too? The challenge will be to refocus minds.

Perspective is required too. The prize of the Premier League title, never won in front of fans, is massive for Liverpool – and more than they could have hoped for in August. It is just that topping the league phase of the Champions League promised even more…

Luis Enrique: Both teams deserved to go through

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique speaking to Amazon Prime Video:

“It does not matter if we deserve the win. Both teams deserved to go through. We were better in Paris and they were better here. My team showed great personality and character at Anfield. The atmosphere was great and it was tough.

“When the draw came out as Liverpool against Paris, both managers thought the same: one of the best games you can watch in Europe. The Champions League has nothing to do with consistency. You have to be great in moments. We suffered a lot. They suffered a lot.”

Player of the match: Gianluigi Donnarumma

Football is a strange game. Alisson wins player of the match in Paris but six days later, and it is his opposite number Donnarumma who walks away with the prize in Liverpool, his two penalty saves having taken PSG into the quarter-finals of the competition.

Donnarumma pushed a few shots away from danger over the 120 minutes but his clean sheet owed much to the defensive work of those in front of him – not least Nuno Mendes, who – again – marshalled Salah better than anyone has in the Premier League.

Nunez telegraphed his penalty a little but it was firmly struck and required an impressive stop from the Italian goalkeeper. His stop to keep out Jones’ effort going in the other direction all but sealed Liverpool’s fate. Another game for the goalkeepers.