Liverpool coach Arne Slot admits that his team will have to produce their best performance of the season to ensure the progress of the Champions League against “the most complete team we have faced”.
After enduring the fiercest night of his reign in Anfield-the most difficult for players in a long time-in Parc des Princes last week, but still leaving with a 1-0 victory, the Dutch knows that they have to raise their game for the second match of their 16th relationship against Paris Saint-Germain.
The conversation in the French capital after Liverpool kidnapped a rear -wall win was that PSG had encountered better teams in the form of Bayern Munich and Arsenal this season.
However, Slot has promised that they will be more proactive and will not sit to their exquisite advantage.
“Is there any change (1-0 leader)? No. We try to play every game to try to win,” he said.
“This is also what we tried to do last week, it was not our intention to be so low (deep) all the time.
“(Tuesday) We want to play a different game. The goal is always the same – we will not go for a draw.
“At Manchester City Away this was not the situation, in PSG that was not the situation. But we get confidence from our home match against City where we had the ball much more and it was much more an equal game.”
Asked if he would look for their best performance under it so far, Slot added: “Yes. I think so. This is the most complete team we have faced so far.
“We are confronted with Arsenal and the city and they are not great borders, but the intensity they (PSG) play in combination with quality – and they are one of the richest clubs – and a great manager is not easy to play against.”
‘PSG have improved since Arsenal and Bayern’ losses’
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James Pearce from Athletic joined Vinny O’Connor to react to Liverpool Champions League victory against PSG in the first Champions League Round-O6 Tie match
Statistics have predicted that Liverpool, extremely, has an 84 percent chance to advance and history will appear to be on their side as in the previous 39 cases they have won the first match of a European tie they have passed.
Their record in Anfield is scary, having lost only once – in September – since April after winning them all, but two of their other matches at home this season.
“Some of them have said that Arsenal and Bayern Munich were better than us. That’s what I heard,” Slot said in the French point of view of his team.
“I think what it has to do is how PSG has improved a lot in two to three months since they played in Arsenal and Bayern.
“In arsenal they were lower, waiting for much more and now they just crush throughout the field and take the risk of one-V-one constantly.
“I can’t influence what they thought – nor do I know if it’s true or not – but I hope they have another thought after (Tuesday).”
Slot has increased by the return of Cody Gakpo after an injury.
PSG ENRIQUE BOOs says its winner will reach the final
PSG boss Luis Enrique is aiming to win the Champions League for the second time as manager
PSG coach Luis Enrique believes that the team that prevails in their 16th Liverpool connection to Anfield will be the Champions League finalists.
“The most important game is what comes next and I hope it (the most important game) will be the last of the season,” he said.
“Although we are following from the first foot, we will play our game from the beginning. Despite the outcome (in Paris) we would do nothing different.
“At the moment we are out, so our only option is to go out and win and that is what you are leading us. I don’t think Arne Slot has many doubts about our start, I have my ideas for his start.
“I will not donate who we will play or how we will play, but during the two matches we will see two of the best teams in Europe, two contenders for the final and whoever passes will go to the finals.”
Enrique is convinced that his team can afford the pressure on a “historical stadium”.
“I am very convinced that absolutely every of my players will want to play,” he added.
“We know what Liverpool means with a historic stadium and a wonderful story. It is a great source of motivation for players and we want to show that we are capable of setting a show.
“It is difficult to manage one’s emotions and feelings, these are not easy games to prepare and it’s not easy to be at 100 percent.
“But you don’t want to be at 105 or 110 percent because you can leave, so you need to manage your emotions in the best way possible.”
Why is the PSG Champions League connection to Liverpool is far from finishing
Sky Sports’ Rich Morgan:
Liverpool may seem a foot in the Champions League quarter-final after last week’s win in Paris Saint-Germain but the Slot team would make a big mistake if they would underestimate the task of coping with when Ligue 1 Champions visit Anfield for the return meeting.
History is certainly against Parisians when traveling to Merseyside. Of the previous 27 teams to lose their first home match in a Knockout of the Champions League, only three have progressed.
Meanwhile, in the seven cases Liverpool have won the first game away from home, they continued to win the return match three times, drawing twice and losing twice.
PSG should be warned, however, that even when Reds lost their second match in Anfield, they still managed to do it in both times, in the last 16 years against Barcelona in 2006/07 and Inter Milan in 2021/22.
In fact, they only once won Liverpool in the first leg of a tie in the Champions League and were eliminated, as happened when Gerard Houlier’s team defeated Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in Anfield in the last eight in 2001/02, just to go out after a 4-2 loss in Bayarena.
However, while the chances can appear very accumulated against PSG making it in the quarter -finals – skybet gives them a 7/4 chance to win in Anfield – there are many reasons to hope for the side of Luis Enrique.
Read the reasons why there is hope for PSG here.
