Arne Slot makes incredibly honest admission after Liverpool’s smash and grab win at PSG

Liverpool were put through their paces by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League but Alisson’s saves and Harvey Elliott’s goal means they’ll take a narrow lead to Anfield

Arne Slot didn’t just believe Liverpool were fortunate to win away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night – he felt even a draw would have been lucky.

Luis Enrique’s PSG side registered 27 shots against Slot’s men, not including the Khvicha Kvaratskhelia goal which was ruled out for offside. They couldn’t find a way past Alisson, though, and were punished in the final few minutes when Liverpool substitute Harvey Elliott scored the winner with his first touch.

Les Parisiens had won 10 games in a row going into the game, and have failed to score just once in their 24 Ligue 1 matches. They won 10-0 on aggregate against Brest in their knockout play-off, but Liverpool dealt with everything they threw at them.

Liverpool’s manager is under no illusions that it was a fortunate result given the balance of play, though. And he made this clear in his post-match comments.

“I think if we had a draw over here we already would have been the lucky one,” Slot said. “That is clear for everyone. I think they were the much better team today, especially in the first half, they had a lot of open chances – three or four big, big, big chances. In the second half they were still the better team, still had a lot of shots on target, but they were mainly from outside the box.

“But I knew before the game and saw today again how much quality this team has, and these individual players have, so all these shots from outside the box are with a certain speed that you only see with the top players. We have them as well, but you see them with them as well – that’s why Alisson still had to make a lot of big saves.”

Slot recognised there was something available to his team on the break, even though it took them until the final few minutes. “We were already in the game – three, four, five times I felt like we can hurt them in transition but we didn’t – but we waited until the last moment and then we hurt them,” he added

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Alisson has been Liverpool’s hero on a number of occasions in the past, but suggested this was a new high at the age of 32. “It was probably the performance of my life,” the Brazilian told TNT Sports. “The manager was telling us how hard it would be to play against PSG, how good they are with the ball and that we would have to be ready to suffer. We knew what was coming.

“We worked hard. We gave away so many chances, sometimes one v one but the biggest part of the chase is having someone make the player with the chance think a bit more.

“All the efforts the team put in makes my job easier. Then at the end Harvey [Elliott] coming in and scoring the goal, it is a great story for us. A great night.”

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