Liverpool collapsed to PSG after more than 120 minutes at Anfield. There is a lot of sadness for the "Red Brigade" because they are the team that is considered the strongest before entering the round of 16.
Mohamed Salah could not hide his sadness when his chance to win the Golden Ball was considered over. In a very strong season, Liverpool without a World Cup or EURO and themselves are in good form. However, Salah stopped too early and at the age of 32, he may have run out of time to compete for that noble title.
Salah's teammates are equally sad, from rotating hitters like Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez, to iron-hearted leaders like Virgil van Dijk. How can we not be sad that this is the first time Liverpool have lost penalty shootouts in the Champions League - an arena where they have won the championship 6 times.
After the match, captain Arne Slot was not too sad, on the contrary, he was very calm to answer each reporter's question in the press conference room. The Dutch strategist said that the meaning was not really fair for Liverpool. They have led the qualifying round with 7 consecutive wins, only losing the last match due to using a reserve team to play against PSV. However, leading the qualifying round with 36 teams is meaningless as in the first knockout match, The Kop faced a very strong opponent.
The road to the Allianz Arena in May seemed very steep, but in the end, it was cut to the brink. There were many "if" or "if" situations for Liverpool in the second leg at Anfield. However, if we look at the whole picture, PSG was the better team in both the first and second legs. The French representative is completely deserving of a ticket to the next round. Although Liverpool are very good, they are simply not equal to their opponents.
Since the beginning of the season, this is Liverpool's 5th loss out of 46 matches in all competitions. The defeat to Plymouth in the fourth round of the FA Cup was quite shocking but it certainly was not as bitter as the loss to PSG. The Kop are in a very strong position in the domestic and continental competitions, being defeated by PSG in this way could leave a huge psychological scar from now until the end of the season. This weekend, they face Newcastle in the League Cup final, which is not a simple match.
Last season, there was a time when Liverpool competed in all four competitions but in the end they only won the League Cup. This season, the gap with Arsenal in the Premier League is safe, so Arne Slot and his team can rest assured. They need the League Cup not simply a title, it is proof that this team is still very strong, able to stand up immediately after defeat.
After the match against Newcastle, Liverpool will have up to 17 days off to review everything before the Premier League finishing stage begins. At this time, Arne Slot just hopes to have no unfortunate injuries during the national team training session. Perhaps right before the match against Newcastle, he needs to have a good psychological movement so that the players understand the current reality and the conquest journey in this era is only in the first months.
