Liverpool's excellence this season has been about control. Dictate how the match will go, force teams to play where they want them to and wait for an opening no matter how long it takes. They've done it with the ball, they've done it without the ball. They've done it with patience, they've done it by turning games into a free-for-all. Wednesday in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg against PSG, they got a harsh reminder of what they used to be. By "harsh reminder," I mean a baseball bat removing their molars.
And yet ... it didn't matter.
PSG channeled Jurgen Klopp's heavy metal football, just as they'd done against Man City, Salzburg and Stuttgart to get their Champions League campaign back on track. An interchangeable front three that's never in the same place twice. A midfield three that shuttles and sprints everywhere to choke off space and prevent any counterattacks. A defensive line that presses maniacally high and wins every long ball launched at it or over it, and when it doesn't, still cleans up the second ball.
List all that out, and any Liverpool supporter will shed a tear over memories from 2019 to 2024, reminiscing about their toothsome and excitable former manager. This time, though, all of it was wielded at them.
Arne Slot and Liverpool's wager on this one was they could let PSG have the ball, stem the tide, and eventually they could play their way through that press and be out in the open. Great idea, except, how do you play through this?
Or this?
Or how about this?
When Liverpool wanted to play their way out, they found one or two of their midfield swamped by four, five, six PSG players pressing them until they popped. It didn't help that Mo Salah, or Diogo Jota, Ryan Gravenberch, or Dominik Szoboszlai were decidedly off-color. They were handing out the ball like a freshly busted piñata. That meant that PSG just attacked again. And again. And again.
For the first 30-35 minutes, Liverpool couldn't find the front three of PSG. Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, and Khvicha Kvarataskhelia floated all over, swapped places, popped up on opposite sides, played one-twos, and were highly unpredictable. Kvaratskhelia was supposedly the right-sided of the three. Here's his heatmap from Whoscored.com.
Still, Slot and Liverpool wagered that they would get one bounce, one break, one mistake from PSG that would open up the dam. That didn't mean the Liverpool manager didn't see what was in front of him. After Dembele and Barcola contrived to not convert three chances with Alisson out of his goal a half-hour in, Slot had Liverpool just sit on their 18-yard box. Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch filled in the gaps between their fullbacks and centerbacks. After that, PSG only managed four more shots from inside the box for the rest of the match, two of which were basically crosses that Alisson parried out. PSG got a heavy look at this:
As PSG settled for prayers from 20-25 yards more and more. Slot brought on Curtis Jones to give Liverpool someone, anyone, who could keep the ball through the pressure PSG put on everyone. He brought on Darwin Nunez to at least cause a ruckus amongst the PSG backline when they went long. Wataru Endo replaced a decidedly struggling Gravenberch to patrol in front of the defense. The wager was still that if they could hold out, one long ball would find a bounce, a break, and someone just might get ahead of PSG backtracking midfield. It only takes one, especially when Alisson was channeling the lovechild of Davey Crockett and Gandalf all match.
Wouldn't you know it, Nunez in his completely unhinged and unstable fashion bounced around and found the ball at his feet . PSG's midfield didn't swarm for once, and well...
All that space for Harvey Elliot to run into and have a go. Sadly for PSG, Gianluigi Donnarumma wasn't anywhere near Alisson's level at the other end on the one shot he had to deal with. On such margins can Champions League ties be decided.
There's still a very long way to go. PSG will conclude that if they can produce anything like that 90 minutes at Anfield next week in the 2nd leg, something or somethings will go in and the tie will be turned around. Alisson can't possibly produce that all again. Liverpool still won't be able to navigate that press and energy. That will be their conclusion.
That's all correct. Except a team can do absolutely everything right, and render it useless without the most important thing in soccer. That's "finish." Liverpool will still wager they only need a bounce, or break, or moment or two. Now, thanks to Alisson and one bounce in the 1st leg, they don't even really need that.