Before the game, the home fans in the La Tribune Auteuil behind one of the goals unveiled a giant banner that depicted the Incredible Hulk dressed in the colours of PSG. Ferocious and grim, he was holding a Liverpool crest in his hands, tearing it asunder.
It was a picture that spoke a thousand words because this is a Liverpool divided. This is a Liverpool weakened by internal strife and tortured by the growing antipathy of the fan-base towards manager Arne Slot and his beleaguered players.
This is a club worried that a schism is growing between fans and players, that frets about Hugo Ekitike swapping shirts with Rayan Cherki during their dismantling by Manchester City at the weekend, fans and ex-players horrified by Virgil van Dijk’s suggestion that some of the players gave up during that game, angry that Dominik Szoboszlai should complain about the fans’ lack of support, and fans complaining that the players do not even want to live on Merseyside.
The institution that is Liverpool is creaking and groaning and PSG are not the team to play when life is hard. In this Champions League quarter-final first leg, PSG grabbed at those fraying seams and ripped them apart.
They only won 2-0 but their dominance was so complete and Liverpool were so timid and lacking in threat that it is hard to see them overcoming that deficit when they entertain PSG on Merseyside next Tuesday. Maybe Anfield will produce another miracle but that looks beyond this side.
PSG are a magnificent team when they play like this, which is often. Vitinha is the best general in club football and their front three of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue ripped Liverpool’s defence to pieces.
Liverpool were beaten 2-0 by PSG in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie
The result heaped more pressure on Arne Slot and his side are creaking and groaning right now
PSG look like the best team in the competition and should’ve have won this game by more
PSG, the holders, look like the best team in the competition. English sides have no answer to them. Since the start of last season, the Ligue 1 leaders have defeated Manchester City, Aston Villa, Arsenal (twice), Tottenham, Chelsea (twice) and Liverpool (twice). They had also won their last four games straight, including an aggregate 8-2 demolition of Chelsea in the Champions League round of 16.
It felt like another sign of the shifting sands on which this Liverpool team is trying to stand upright that Slot started with a back three and that Mo Salah, who missed one particularly good chance against City at the weekend, was dropped from the starting line-up.
It is not the first time that has happened this season but in a match of this importance, it felt significant. This was supposed to be Salah’s farewell tour before he leaves the club in the summer but on his current form, he did not deserve to be in the first XI.
There was apprehension in the air as the visiting fans gazed down from their vantage point high in one of the stands behind the goal. Steven Gerrard reflected it. ‘Liverpool have got to throw punches,’ he said. ‘They can’t be sitting ducks.’
PSG had won their last four games straight, including two matches against Chelsea in the round of 16 in this competition when they demolished the Club World Cup winners 8-2. They started like a team full of confidence, too, dragging Liverpool out of shape, teasing them for mistakes, probing for gaps.
What Liverpool did not need in the circumstances was a slice of bad luck but in the 11th minute, that, nevertheless, was what they got. Lack of defensive rigour was Liverpool’s undoing, too, because Desire Doue was allowed to turn away from three Liverpool defenders on the edge of the area before he took a shot at goal.
The ball spun up off the heel of Ryan Gravenberch and looped over the head of Giorgi Mamardashvili and into the net. The stadium exploded in noise. Liverpool’s players looked crestfallen. PSG were the opposite. They celebrated every tackle and every block as if it were another goal.
Liverpool tried to hit back but they lacked fluency and belief. They could not muster a single attempt on goal in the first half. Their play had a desperate edge to it. Joe Gomez was booked for going through the back of Achraf Hakimi. Alexis Mac Allister was cautioned for a scything foul on Doue as he galloped down the right wing.
In the stands, the Liverpool fans sang about ‘Stevie Heighway on the wing’ and invoked the club’s golden years. On the pitch, the memories of those years receded with every minute. Liverpool were only a goal down but they were being taught a lesson.
Desire Doue put PSG ahead when his effort was deflected over Giorgi Mamardashvili
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made it 2-0 and it feels as if Liverpool’s days in this competition are numbered
Mohamed Salah was left on the bench throughout the 90 minutes at the Parc des Princes
PSG nearly doubled their lead eight minutes before the break. Vitinha freed Nuno Mendes with a brilliant ball out of defence, Nuno Mendes cut inside and slid a pass to Doue and Doue clipped his shot goalwards. When it left his boot, it looked like a goal but Mamardashvili got down to it well and blocked it with his legs.
Liverpool were being overwhelmed. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played the ball across the face of the Liverpool box to Doue, Doue moved it on to Ousmane Dembele and Dembele shot straight at Mamardashvili. PSG were toying with their opponents.
PSG should have gone two ahead five minutes after the break. Mac Allister headed the ball straight to Nuno Mendes deep inside the Liverpool half and when the PSG full-back cut it back into the path of Dembele, the goal yawned. Dembele had time and space but he leaned back and lifted the ball high over the bar. It was such a bad miss that his teammates consoled him.
PSG’s frustration at not being able to score the second goal their dominance deserved started to help Liverpool. They gained their first semblance of a foothold in the game and found some space in the PSG midfield when they attacked. Some confidence began to seep into their game.
Midway through the half, PSG finally got the second goal that Liverpool had been dreading. Joao Neves threaded a brilliant through ball into the path of Kvaratskhelia and he held off the desperate challenge of Gravenberch, kept his nerve and walked the ball across the face of the six-yard box before passing it nonchalantly into the net.
Alexander Isak came on for the last 12 minutes after a long spell out with injury but he made little difference. Dembele hit the post late on and Nuno Mendes missed a golden opportunity to make it three. Liverpool were lucky not to lose more heavily but it feels as if their days in this competition are numbered.
