Ousmane Dembele has repeatedly brought hope to Liverpool in moments that seemed hopeless in the UEFA Champions League. But this time, the Paris Saint-Germain striker may make them pay the price themselves.
In 2019, when Barcelona was leading 3-0 in the first leg semi-final against Liverpool at Camp Nou, Dembele missed the opportunity to increase the score to 4-0 in the last seconds. Lionel Messi at that time could not hide his disappointment. And the rest became history. Liverpool won 4-0 at Anfield, creating one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history.
7 years later, the familiar scenario repeated itself. Dembele missed three clear chances in the first leg of the quarter-finals at Parc des Princes, helping Liverpool lose 0-2 instead of possibly a heavier defeat to the defending champion.
However, before Dembele and coach Luis Enrique blame themselves, there is still a big difference. That is that Liverpool is no longer Jurgen Klopp's team.
If Klopp's Liverpool used to play fair attack right at Camp Nou, then Arne Slot's team in Paris only has one goal. That is to limit the number of goals conceded. And they did it, but in a very passive way.
Slot abandoned the familiar 4-defender system to switch to a 3-center-back formation, using Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong on both wings, and also eliminated Mohamed Salah from the starting lineup to increase certainty and create space for Florian Wirtz.
In theory, this is a reasonable choice. But in reality it is completely the opposite. Liverpool is completely overwhelmed by PSG, while Wirtz is almost lost.
The Red Brigade" did not have a single shot on target, only controlled the ball 26%, made 253 passes compared to PSG's 744, and launched 3 shots compared to the opponent's 18. When a team only has 9 touches in the penalty area, scoring is almost impossible.
PSG has torn apart our defense. We can only survive, and they helped us do that by missing opportunities" - Liverpool's captain admitted.
Right from the 11th minute, Desire Doue opened the score, signaling a nightmare night for The Kop. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia then doubled the gap with a classy solo in the 65th minute. However, PSG could not finish the match with a larger gap, partly because of Dembele's wastefulness.
Even, Liverpool escaped a heavier defeat when VAR denied PSG's penalty after Ibrahima Konate contested with Warren Zaire-Emery.
The 0-2 score therefore has the appearance of an acceptable result for Liverpool rather than a real defeat. But the problem is that Slot's Liverpool is not like Klopp's Liverpool. They have lost 3 consecutive matches, played without identity and no longer have the ability to create crazy comebacks.
If this is Klopp's Liverpool, Anfield can still dream of miracles. But with the current version, that seems to no longer exist. And this time, perhaps Dembele will not have to pay the price for missed opportunities like in 2019.
PSG has terrible speed from every position. We chose Frimpong and Kerkez to press high, but almost every attempt was exploited by them.
We can play differently in less than a week. I believe Liverpool will return to their familiar style at home, just like last season. Everyone can talk about tactics, but the main story is that PSG is too strong and we need to prepare well for the second leg" - Slot added.
