10 things after Liverpool go out of the CL

Written on 12 March 2025, 05:05pm

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Photo: Sky Sports
  1. PSG deserved it. Let’s get that out of the way first: across the two legs, they were the better team. They won the xG score 4.41 vs 1.86 in total, and they look like a team that can go deep in this competition. In fact, I would not be surprised if they will win it. As for Liverpool, yes, they had their chances on Anfield, but c’est la vie!
  2. The little details count. “In a game now packed with the latest modern technology and VAR, it’s curious that an old-fashioned coin toss can still have such an impact on the outcome of such an important encounter“. In the beginning of the game, Van Dijk won the coin toss but gave away the chance to attack in front of the Kop in the second half (he changed his mind the second time around, before the extra time). But PSG then won the two important coin tosses: to have the shoot-out in front of their fans and to shoot first. There is statistical evidence showing that the team kicking first wins in 60% of the cases, so PSG started the penalty shootout with two small, but important advantages. Finally, another little (big) detail was that two of the Liverpool players were observing the Ramadam fasting tradition: Salah and Konate. This means their game preparation was impacted, being only able to eat or drink after sunset (only a bit more than an hour before the game started).
  3. Speaking of little details, having a weekend to rest helped PSG massively, especially with the game going into extra time. After a Klopp-like pressing in the beginning of the two halves, Liverpool got tired, and they lost the midfield battle after Szoboszlai and MacAllister went off. PSG on the other hand looked more fresh and controlled the game better after absorbing the initial Liverpool pressure. In retrospect, the penalty shootout was Liverpool’s best chance to go through.
  4. It was one of the few games when the Liverpool substitutes were really poor and could not influence the game at all. Quansah was the only one having a decent game (and perhaps Endo too, despite playing only 10 minutes), but the other 4 – Nunez, Jones, Gakpo and Elliott – had a game to forget, especially the first two. Gakpo might have the excuse of coming back from an injury and was likely not 100% fit to play. Perhaps this is an opportunity to reflect on the squad depth and how things could be improved in the summer.
  5. Alisson was outstanding, but his penalty record is average. He made 16 saves across the two PSG legs, with his performance in Paris described as ‘best of his life’. But he could not save any of the four PSG penalties, and looking at his penalty record, his stats are not more than average: he saved two penalties in the PL (Chelsea and West Ham) and one in the CL (Napoli) out of 12. He was involved in three penalty shootouts: two on Wembley (against City and Chelsea) and the one on Anfield last night. He only won one (against Chelsea, in the FA Cup final in 2022), after saving one penalty (against Mason Mount). Until now, Alisson has only saved one penalty on Anfield (Bowen, 2022).
  6. Slot got his penalty takers wrong. I would have gone with Salah, Virgil, Gakpo, Endo and Eliott, in this order. Would have kept Nunez as the 11th penalty taker. Wrong end and megaphones aside, there was sense of inevitability that we will miss (not a big fan of stuttering penalties, BTW).
  7. Liverpool depend too much on Salah. When Salah is having a bad day (and against PSG he had two), and he doesn’t score, chances are Liverpool will not win. This season there were only 5 games when Liverpool managed to win despite Salah having no goal involvement (Milan and PSG away, Palace, Forest and Brentford away). There were of course three 0-1 losses – against Forest (PL), Spurs (EFL) and PSG last night when Salah had no impact. This is not encouraging for next season, so
  8. Liverpool will probably look for offensive players in the summer. There is uncertainty regarding the new contract of Salah. Nunez is likely to be sold (and Liverpool should sell him, if you ask me). Jota is decent as a squad player, but he’s frequently getting injured (and a bit unreliable, recently). Chiesa is a mystery and I can only hope that he will have the same trajectory as Gravenberch, who only played a few games in his first season but then he became irreplaceable in his second. I also hope that Diaz will stay, but you never know. It could be a long and complicated summer for Liverpool.
  9. All done and dusted, if you’re going to exit from the CL, better do it early. I am aware of the financial implications, but losing two CL finals hurt a lot. Despite having a brilliant season so far, I could not see Liverpool going deep in the CL (it would have been different if they were drawn on the other side of the table, playing Benfica and Lille/Borussia for fun until the semifinals). It’s been a long season and players like Virgil, Salah, Gravenberch, Mac Allister or Szoboszlai have a lot of minutes in their legs.
  10. There’s still a final to win on Sunday, and more importantly, a Premier League advantage of 15 points with 9 games to go. Only 10 games to be played this season – there’s hope that the players and the supporters will enjoy them.

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Written by Dorin Moise (Published articles: 287)

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