Overview
The decisive round of the UEFA Champions League season 2025-2026 has arrived. And in the crucial week to determine the 4 teams to the semi-finals, Liverpool - the six-time champion - will face a huge challenge against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arne Slot's team is leading 0-2 after the first leg at Parc des Princes, where Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in two halves, giving PSG a big advantage.
Doue's early opening goal means that he has contributed to 11 goals in 14 Champions League matches (7 goals, 4 assists). Meanwhile, Liverpool disappointed when they did not have a single shot on target in the first half - for the first time this has happened since the quarter-final match against Real Madrid in the 2020-2021 season.
In the second half, Joao Neves assisted Kvaratskhelia to double the gap. The Georgian star continued his impressive form when scoring in 4 consecutive knockout matches.
Since the beginning of last season, only Raphinha of Barcelona has participated in more goals in the knockout round than Kvaratskhelia. Meanwhile, Liverpool finished the first leg without a shot on target - the first since the match against Atalanta in November 2020.
Trailing 0-2, Liverpool faces an extremely difficult task before the second leg, especially when their schedule is thicker than PSG. While Luis Enrique's team was postponed from the Ligue 1 match, Liverpool still had to play in the Premier League and beat Fulham 2-0.
In this match, Rio Ngumoha (17 years and 225 days old) became the youngest player to score for Liverpool at Anfield in Premier League history, surpassing Raheem Sterling's record. Mohamed Salah also ended his prolonged goalless streak with an important goal.
In addition, Florian Wirtz is the biggest creative hope when leading the Champions League in the number of chances created from live balls (28). This makes him a key factor in Liverpool's hope of a comeback.
However, the problem in the defense is still a concern. Alisson Becker has not fully recovered, while Giorgi Mamardashvili has only kept a clean sheet in 3/15 matches and conceded 7/8 recent matches.
Liverpool are also missing Wataru Endo, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni long-term. On PSG's side, Bradley Barcola and Quentin Ndjantou cannot return yet.
Fabian Ruiz still needs to test his fitness, while Achraf Hakimi is preparing to reach the milestone of 55 matches in the Champions League for PSG, surpassing legends like Angel Di Maria and Edinson Cavani.
The second leg promises to be a real test of bravery for Liverpool - where they need a magical Anfield night if they want to reverse the situation against a PSG that is in high form.
Head-to-head record
PSG's 2-0 victory in the first leg continues to maintain a remarkable statistic: there has been no draw in seven encounters between this team and Liverpool in all competitions. Notably, two of the three victories of the English representative took place at Anfield home ground.
Before this season, the last time the two teams met was in the Champions League round of 16 last season. At that time, Liverpool won 1-0 right in France thanks to a late goal by Harvey Elliott, thereby creating an advantage before the second leg.
However, at Merseyside, Paris Saint-Germain quickly responded. Ousmane Dembele scored a goal to help the away team equalize the total score, bringing the match back to the starting line.
After the two teams drew 1-1 after two legs, PSG showed more bravery in the penalty shootout when they won 4-1, thereby eliminating Liverpool and opening a historic journey, ending with the first Champions League title of the Paris capital team.
Score prediction: Liverpool 0-1 PSG
The match between Liverpool and PSG takes place at 2:00 AM on April 15 (Vietnam time).
