. Arne Slot’s side delivered the improvement he promised but to no avail as Paris Saint-Germain advanced into the Champions League quarter-finals with a flawless penalty shootout. Gianluigi Donnarumma, the man who broke English hearts in the 2020 European Championship final shoot-out, proved the big man for the big occasion once again.
The Italy international saved from Darwin Núñez and Curtis Jones in the penalty shootout after Ousmane Dembélé’s winner in normal time had levelled the tie on aggregate. Mohamed Salah was the only Liverpool player to convert a spot-kick. Vitinha, brilliant all night, Gonçalo Ramos, Dembele and finally Désiré Doué made no mistake against Alisson.
The opening 12 minutes at Anfield was the first leg in reverse. The dominator became the dominated as Liverpool started with an intensity and threat that was almost entirely absent at Parc des Princes. Mohamed Salah performed as though affronted by his 3-rating in L’Équipe, which he probably was. Luis Díaz was not far behind in bringing explosive menace from the left. Defensive composure was also evident from the off with Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk contemptuously brushing aside Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola respectively when they first had opportunities to counter.
Alexis Mac Allister presented Salah with a glorious chance to open the scoring and double Liverpool’s aggregate lead with four minutes gone. Bursting onto Dominik Szoboszlai’s intelligent lay-off and into the box the midfielder squared to the better-placed forward rather than shooting himself. Salah seemed certain to score from close range but his shot struck Nuno Mendes and deflected over. Moments later Salah left the PSG left-back in a heap near the half-way line, surged into the area and curled wide. Such are the world class standards the Egypt international has set for himself, you expected him to score. The …
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