Football writer Tom Hancock assesses how Liverpool bowed out of Europe on a dramatic night at Anfield.
Liverpool are out of the UEFA Champions League after losing 4-1 on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain, following a 1-1 draw on aggregate.
Speaking on Monday, Arne Slot said that his team, holding a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg, would need to produce their best performance of the campaign to see off a “complete” PSG.
This wasn’t it, as Liverpool suffered their first major setback of Slot’s reign, though his men went toe-to-toe with a side who look the team to beat in this season’s Champions League. PSG threatened them in a way that they’re unlikely to experience during the remaining nine matches of their Premier League title pursuit.
Punished by Dembele
For the eighth time at home this season in all competitions, Liverpool conceded first. Twelve minutes in, Ousmane Dembele scored his 21st goal of 2025, as the Ligue 1 leaders took full advantage of the Reds’ failure to pick up a ball straight through the middle, and Slot’s side might well have conceded another couple before half-time.
It took Liverpool all of six minutes to register as many shots (two) as they did in the entirety of last week’s smash-and-grab win amid a PSG onslaught at the Parc des Princes, but the hosts spurned a series of inviting early chances and were duly punished.
But for a heavy touch at the worst possible moment, Dembele probably would have made it 2-0 to PSG just after the half-hour mark, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia giving Alisson, Liverpool’s man-of-the-match in Paris, something to think about soon after.
Dominant in second half
As it was, Slot was able to work his half-time magic with the tie still level on aggregate. Liverpool upped the tempo to dominate the second half, posting eight attempts worth 0.55 Expected Goals (xG) to PSG’s three attempts worth 0.13 xG.
Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah all had good opportunities for Liverpool, but the Reds were ultimately wasteful as they drew a blank in 90 minutes for only the fourth time this term. On each of the previous three occasions, they had 14 shots; here, they had 18 without finding a way through.
PSG led the extra-time shot count 11-1, forcing three saves from Alisson, who made a total of seven on the night to go with his nine in the first leg. The Brazilian’s combined 16 saves across both legs are the most by a goalkeeper in a Champions League knockout tie since Manuel Neuer made the same number for Bayern Munich, in their 2016/17 quarter-final against Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Gianluigi Donnarumma produced a couple of fine stops in open play to keep PSG in it.
Liverpool’s first shootout loss
It was Donnarumma who proved to be PSG’s hero in the end, as this epic encounter rather fittingly came down to a penalty shootout. The Italian goalkeeper denied Darwin Nunez and then Curtis Jones from the spot as Liverpool suffered their first-ever Champions League shootout loss.
Liverpool had progressed on each of the previous 39 occasions that they’d won the first leg away from home in Europe, but that record also fell on Tuesday night.
It was an energy-sapping evening at Anfield, and the injuries that forced Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate to limp out of the match will only compound Liverpool’s fitness concerns for their EFL Cup final against Newcastle United in five days’ time.
With the international break to follow, Liverpool won’t return to Premier League action until a home Merseyside derby clash with Everton on 2 April.
By then, they’ll need to have their Champions League disappointment firmly out of their minds. Their 15-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the Premier League is a comfortable one, but there can be no room for complacency.
