Smash and Grab

Paris Saint-Germain FC 0, Liverpool FC 1 (First leg, round of 16)

Credit: UEFA

The first leg between PSG and Liverpool was quite reminiscent of the Champions League Final in May 2022, but of course I greatly prefer how this tie played out. Today’s match was an instant classic, and should have been a Semifinal if not a Final, not the round of 16. Paris St-Germain played Liverpool off the pitch for the first 85 or so minutes, out-pacing and out-skilling the Reds every which way. Somehow the ball stayed out of the Liverpool net - with much of that credit going to Alisson Becker - and, until the very late stages, you would have happily taken a scoreless draw with the hope that Arne Slot and his staff could come up with something more effective when the sides meet again during the second leg at Anfield.

Then Harvey Elliott entered the chat.

Elliott’s goal in the 87th minute was a nice change of pace after seeing the Reds suffer late scores against from the likes of Man U, Newcastle, and Everton to draw each of those opponents level; this 0-1 victory was a textbook definition of a smash and grab, with the Parisians dominating any and every stat you could care to name: 70% possession, +1.55 in xG, +38 in touches in opposition’s box, +25 in shots generated, +9 shots on target. It was comprehensive.

After a disappointing run during the Galacticos era, Qatari Sports Investments went with a different approach, and it’s clear that this time they have created a side overflowing with skill and pace. Liverpool FC struggled to string three passes together, and any turnover quickly resulted in PSG threatening the Reds’ goal.

First half shot map (credit: Fotmob)

It seemed extremely lucky for the Reds to be level at halftime, as PSG put up 1.37 xG compared to 0.13 for Liverpool; the score could have easily been 3-0. A Kvicha Kvaratskhelia back heel provided the slightest of reprieves for the visitors after his curling shot from the right half space was the only shot to make it past Alisson Becker and into the back of the net. The goal was disallowed due to Kvaratskhelia’s achilles tendons being in an offside position as the ball was played to him.

Credit to Arne Slot and his staff, as they made changes that held PSG to 0.45 xG in the second half. While the Parisians had plenty of the ball and were rampant in the Liverpool end of the pitch, their shots were largely from distance which allowed Alisson to read them perfectly and react in time to push the shots aside, if not collect them. Until Harvey Elliott entered the match, the hope was to head back to Merseyside with a nil-nil draw, as the front three of Díaz, Jota, and Salah had no effective questions for a dominant PSG back line that easily diffused any attempt by Liverpool to generate scoring chances. Salah in particular was completely ineffective, which ironically resulted in Elliott being subbed in for him.

Just like that, lightning struck within a minute of Elliott joining the match. Alisson played a long volley to Darwin at the top of the PSG box, and he fought to control the ball. The right flank completely opened up as the Parisians vacated that part of the pitch, and Núñez threaded a perfect pass to Harvey, who beat Donnarumma with a shot ticketed for the far post. From there, the Reds hung on to claim the result.

PSG will feel hard done by the result, and the game of cat and mouse during the second leg at Anfield will be intriguing, as the Parisians have loads of talent to ask plenty of questions of the Reds, but this Liverpool side is rounding back into their defensive shape, having registered three straight clean sheets.

Player Thoughts

Alisson FOOKIN’ Becker

Photo credit: Sonora.com.gt

Some clean sheets are earned, and this was one of those for Alisson. While he faced zero shots on goal in the last tie against Newcastle, there were about a half dozen quality scoring chances he had to push aside or collect. Take another look at that shot map, this time for the entire match:

Credit: Fotmob

Simply absurd. Becker was on top of his game, and that’s a great sign for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign.

Harvey Elliott

I got a chance to watch From Doubters to Believers this past week, and the Elliotts feature prominently. Harvey’s dad is the quintessential soccer dad, still coaching his son up despite the fact he’s had arguably two of the top 5 coaches in the world during his time on Merseyside. The Elliotts are massive Liverpool fans, and it’s great to see yung Harvey make the most of his opportunities. I will admit when mentally thinking through which subs would be able to handle the Parisians’ pace, I was not very confident that Elliott would be a good fit for this tie, but am throughly chuffed to be wrong.

Harvey’s quality was the difference.

Kvicha Kvaratskhelia

I cannot think of a bigger waste of time than fighting with randos on the internet. I try my best to exit the…erm…conversation as quickly as possible. I had one of those encounters on Bluesky when there were rumors that Kvaradonna was going to sign with Liverpool during the January transfer window.

My quick takeaway was that this was a guy who generates a fookton of shots on target, but his actual production would leave you wanting. So if you aren’t thrilled with Darwin, this guy bears strong similarity to Núñez in this regard. I quickly got a reply that my comparison was everything that’s wrong with using stats to compare players. Now to be fair, the person was mostly chiming in about playing style and I agreed that they are not similar at all in terms of where they play on the pitch and how they attack. My main point was that the finishing doesn’t flatter the shooting volume. No matter, this person was thoroughly offended.

So yeah…Kvaradonna:

• 4 shots on target

• 0.18 xG

• 0.14 xA

• 0 goals

Then there’s the chef’s kiss: he was offside before scoring PSG’s lone goal.

Credit: Parks and Rec

Lucho and Diogo

While the Reds attack was impotent for nearly the entirety of the match, Lucho had the pace to more or less hold his own, and Diogo was far enough up where he was isolated with the center halves and was crafty enough to get himself into some dangerous situations with the ball. No matter though, as Marquinhos and Willian Pacho were up the task and neutered every promising attack from the Liverpool front line.