The seconds after a penalty shoot-out present the most vivid contrast in emotions that a football pitch can play host to. On Tuesday evening it was the Paris Saint-Germain players who jumped for joy as they ran from the halfway line, those in Liverpool red slumped to the turf.
The climax of this absorbing and epic Champions League round-of-16 tie came to a head as Gianluigi Donnarumma saved the spot-kicks of Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones, and with it both clubs’ seasons shifted quite markedly.
For Luis Enrique’s team this was a major hurdle overcome. Not only had they been unfortunate to lose a home first leg that they so comprehensively dominated from first minute until last even a smash-and-grab description underestimated Liverpool’s win, but they became the first French side to triumph at Anfield and secure a place in the quarter-finals.
PSG, who already have the Ligue 1 title wrapped up, should immediately be inserted as one of the favourites for this season’s Champions League. The team performance that encompassed the talents of Khvicha Kvarastskhelia, Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha and Donnarumma means it surely now seems a question of when not if the club will claim a first European Cup.
Meanwhile, for Liverpool, this was a major blow. And it was clear from the reaction of Mohamed Salah, who couldn’t hold back the tears after what could be his last European game for the club, and the disappointment etched on the faces of Nunez and Jones how deep this cut.
It was the first time Liverpool had been eliminated from Europe after winning the first leg away from home (39 previous ties had gone the Merseyside club’s way) and it was the first time they had lost a penalty shoot-out in this competition, having won the finals in 1984 and 2005, as well as the 2007 semi-final against Chelsea, in such a fashion.
Clearly, there was little to separate these two sides over the two matches and a period of extra time and yet exiting the competition at this stage went in the face of Liverpool’s strong start to their European campaign.
As Arne Slot’s team rattled off seven straight wins in the revamped league phase, claiming scalps of Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid, the German and Spanish champions respectively, along the way, Liverpool assumed the tag of competition favourites.
However, finishing top of the pile ultimately provided scant reward as this tough tie with PSG laid bare. Yes, Liverpool are not in quite the same form as earlier in the season and they caught the French team on their way up, but it underlined that first-place counts for little.
Many clubs may look at this next season and see it better to work themselves into the competition rather than go full throttle in each of the eight league-phase encounters. PSG finished 15th after suffering defeats to Bayern Munich and Arsenal before advancing past Brest in the play-off round.
“Over 90 minutes, I don’t think we deserved to lose this game,” Slot remarked. “Over 180 minutes, maybe it was deserved that we went to overtime. It is something to take into consideration about how much worth there is to end up first in the league table if you can face PSG in the next round.”
Liverpool have domestic jobs still to see through
At the end of a disappointing evening Liverpool fans will hardly have wanted to hear Virgil van Dijk, through no fault of his own, admit that he still has “no idea” whether he will be at the club come August. “At the moment I don’t even know what will happen next year. If anyone says they do know, they are lying to your face,” the captain said.
Away from the immediate post-game reaction and prior to the possibilities of the upcoming summer, there is still a season to finish, starting with Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United, which offers Slot his first chance at the club to claim silverware.
The head coach’s task is to prevent an unnecessary hangover. However tough it is to take, Liverpool cannot let a fifth defeat in 46 matches in all competitions, and just the second at home, cloud a campaign that has already exceeded expectations.
Two of their previous four defeats proved inconsequential as the loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final was repaired in the second leg at Anfield and the reverse to PSV Eindhoven was largely irrelevant because Slot played a ‘B’ team.
It was only the league defeat to Nottingham Forest back in September and the FA Cup exit at the hands of Plymouth Argyle that represented set-backs.
Slot has a few days before Liverpool travel to Wembley this weekend to ensure his players return to the best possible physical and mental state to defend their trophy and win the competition for a record 11th time. It will then be a case of seeing through the rest of the league season to ensure a 20th league title is secured.
Treble talk will give way to discussions about a domestic Double, and that would still represent a sublime first season for Slot during what was anticipated to be a year of transition.
“There are two big prizes we can still get. We are going to give it everything,” said Van Dijk after he had done the post-match rounds with his team-mates urging them to look forward. “We have to feel the disappointment tonight but from tomorrow it is about recovery. Be ready for a good one.
“If we bring this intensity in Wembley with our fans, then I am positive. I am always positive. But I am really looking forward to being back out there.”
