Liverpool crowd reaction before Darwin Nunez missed crucial penalty spoke volumes

Liverpool lost to Paris Saint-Germain and were knocked out of the Champions League via penalty shootout after Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed penalties at Anfield on Tuesday

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock believes there was a ‘sense of anxiety’ as Darwin Nunez stepped up to take his penalty against Paris Saint-Germain.

Nunez saw his effort saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma before Curtis Jones suffered the same fate, while PSG were perfect from 12 yards to secure progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. The Reds were defeated 1-0 on the night after Ousmane Dembele’s first-half effort.

Arne Slot’s side put in a valiant effort and controlled more of the game than they did in victory over the French side less than a week ago. But it proved not to be enough as penalties were required to separate two evenly matched sides.

Warnock claims that there was a lack of confidence as Darwin stepped up to take the club’s second penalty. “You had that feeling as Darwin Nunez walked up to the ball,” he said. “A sense of anxiety from the Liverpool fans.”

The ex-Blackburn defender believes that Darwin and Jones had also had a difficult time on the pitch after being introduced from the bench. “Darwin Nunez didn’t have an affect on the game and Curtis Jones was poor when he came on,” Warnock added.

“Cody Gakpo didn’t look fit. It looked like a wasted substitution from Liverpool.”

Alan Shearer meanwhile praised the man that stood in there way, Donnarumma. “In that guy there, Gianluigi Donnarumma, that one to his right-hand side when he got really low from Curtis Jones, it was absolutely sensational,” he offered.

“They’ll give anyone a game left in this competition, because they’re a really good side.”

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk called upon his disappointed team-mates to hold their heads high ahead of another opportunity for success this coming weekend. The Reds next face Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

“It’s part of football,” he commented after the game. “I said to the guys ‘you can be disappointed because we are out of the competition, but chin up’. Now we get ready for the next challenge at the weekend which is a beautiful one.

“I think we were pretty good today as well, and you want to go as far as possible, but we knew when we drew PSG it was going to be very difficult. We saw in Paris when we struggled but we won, and today we saw a very good Liverpool side but we’re out of the competition.

“Today from the first second and then extra time, when fatigue kicks in for both sides, it becomes more open but especially regular time, we showed a very good game. We can speak about the game for ages but we’re out of the competition, that is the reality.”

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