This Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain faced Liverpool at the Parc de Princes as part of the Champions League 2024-2025 Round of 16. Arne Slot, coach of the English team, spoke at a press conference after the 0-1 English victory (video highlights PSG/Liverpool, return Tuesday March 11). He spoke of the Parisians’ superiority, largely due to goalkeeper Alisson Becker (32), and the difficulty of confirming qualification.
Slot “we were already lucky”.
How do you feel about the match, with Alisson making some important saves?
I think if we’d had a draw, we’d already been lucky. That’s clear to everyone. PSG were a much better team today, especially in the 1st half. They had several clear-cut chances. In the second half, they were even better than us and they shot, but mostly from outside the box.
But I already knew the qualities of this team and these players. And these shots are very dangerous, they’re top players. That’s why Alisson had to make some great saves. We were also lucky with the offside trap. But I’m glad the referee wasn’t impressed by the atmosphere.
I felt several times that we could have hurt them in transition, but we didn’t. We finally did it in the final minute. In the end, we did.
Another tough second set?
The 0-1 scoreline is a very good result for us. We’ve seen it in recent weeks. We saw that they were the best team in the Champions League in terms of statistics, even though we were top of the table. So I wasn’t surprised that they were so good. We’re going to need our fans in the return leg.
Slot “Luis Enrique has put together an exceptional team”.
Was it the strongest opponent of the season, or an out-of-form Liverpool?
We weren’t out of form, that’s PSG’s quality. The way they’ve played this season, everything points to them being the best team of the season apart from the standings. They’ve had a tough schedule with Arsenal, Atlético, Bayern and Manchester City, and they still had the best statistics.
They showed their qualities today. The whole of England saw it, Luis Enrique put together an exceptional team, with such good use of space and the ball. It was incredible to get a result here, and it’s going to be tough next week.
Were you aiming for a draw in this match? You seemed to be stalling for time.
I’ve played games where the opposition took much longer. Even if you didn’t know it. I didn’t feel we were stalling. But it’s clear that as the game went on, a draw would have been a good result, even if we were lucky enough to win.
Slot “It was a miracle that it was 0-0 at the break.”
The plan for the second half?
We changed the pressing after they’d had some great chances in the first half. It was a miracle that it was 0-0 at the break. In the second half, they showed immense ability to be dangerous even from outside the box.
There were two teams who dominated their league, there were great qualities, but PSG were by far the better team.
Was the refereeing in Liverpool’s favor?
The big difference in France is that I have questions about refereeing and time, whereas in England it’s up to me to raise the subject if we’re at a disadvantage. It’s not easy to referee a match like this, with such noisy supporters.
There may or may not have been a doubt about the red, but apart from that I didn’t feel any advantage. It was excellent refereeing. I think that if he whistles, VAR doesn’t change the decision. But if he doesn’t whistle, that doesn’t change either. It wasn’t a clear-cut situation.
Slot “We’ll need them.”
Who’s most confident about the comeback?
If we look at the result, we can be very positive. In terms of performance, it’s different. But I can tell you that they won’t just be playing against us, but also against our fans. We’ll need them.
