Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool faced off this Tuesday at Anfield in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, 2024-2025. The match ended in a Parisian victory on penalties (1-1 on aggregate, then 1-4 on penalties – Liverpool/PSG video highlights). After the match, England coach Arne Slot spoke at a press conference. He underlined the level of this very close encounter, with, of course, the regret of being eliminated.
Slot “It was the best soccer match I’ve ever been involved in.”
Are you getting less than you deserve today?
It was the best soccer match I’ve ever been involved in. There were 2 teams at an incredible level, with immense intensity. Our first 25 minutes were incredible. But we were behind.
Tonight, I don’t think we deserved to lose that soccer match. But overall, maybe we deserved to go into extra time. I think PSG were a little better there. Then came the penalty shoot-out and we lost.
Is it a big shock to go out, despite the quality of the opponent?
Of course it is. Maybe this isn’t the time to talk about that with the players, but at least if you’re going to go out it has to be that way, against a team like that. All soccer fans would have liked the match to have gone on. It was incredible.
It was very unlucky to be top of the table and facing PSG, one of the best teams in the world, but that’s the way it is and we have to accept it.
A surprising result on penalties?
There was no feeling that our opponents were impressed. That’s soccer, sometimes you have to go through the penalty shootout. They won, not us. That’s all I can say.
Slot “Maybe there’s a lack of fairness in the system.”
Were your players nervous?
I don’t know, I think everyone is. But these players almost always score. After that, it’s always different. It’s unlucky.
Did being first come to nothing?
There’s the disappointment of being eliminated. It will count in the balance of the season, what we did. We weren’t in the Champions League last year, but this year we’ve shown a lot of quality. Today was very different from last week. We came out impressively.
Now we can consider how useful it is to be in first place if it’s to face PSG. Perhaps there’s a lack of fairness in the system. It’s unlucky to play PSG, when we could have gone the other way. But to win a competition like this, you have to beat a team like PSG anyway.
Slot “PSG deserves all the credit”.
Can PSG win the LDC?
Yes, they can. But, unfortunately for them, they’re not the only ones. It comes down to a few things, it can be luck, it can be bad luck. It can come down to refereeing. In both games, the referees were very good this time. They’re one of the teams that can win. If they’ve got everyone fit, they’ve got a good chance.
Are they the favourites?
There’s also Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid… There’s a lot of competition. But they’re favourites. They’re one of the richest teams, so it’s no surprise.
Was PSG fresher in extra time? Is it because of the Premier League schedule?
No, I don’t think so. In the second half, we were fresher and fitter. They hardly fired a shot, and we hit the post. Salah’s shot was cleared off the line. We came close. But PSG deserve all the credit for playing Liverpool at Anfield, and you have to be a very, very good team to win.
