Liverpool’s 1-0 victory at PSG was dubbed an “English robbery” by the local press, having delivered a result which “awakens the club’s worst nightmares.”
After weathering a blistering attacking display from their French hosts for almost 90 minutes, Liverpool took a huge advantage from their last 16 first leg.
Harvey Elliott‘s late winner sealed a 1-0 win ahead of the return to Anfield on Tuesday night, with Arne Slot admitting afterwards that his side had been “lucky.”
That was a sentiment shared by the French media, who were left deflated by PSG’s inability to convert their chances after 27 shots on goal.
Le Parisien‘s Dominique Severac described it as a performance where “everything was there” but only proved “a vision of happiness”:
“It was almost all there. Summer in March, victory born of a clear superiority, a great opponent who was ultimately very ugly.
“Everything was there, but everything, almost. Like a vision of happiness that appears but does not grasp.”
[…]
“Paris did more than look Liverpool straight in the eye, they gave them a football lesson, asserting themselves as a European great, only brought back to reason and frustration by their lack of realism.
“No opponent has tormented Arne Slot‘s men to this extent in Europe or recently in England.”
L’Equipe reflected on the end of a 22-game unbeaten streak with fears Liverpool had now “awoken the club’s worst nightmares”:
“PSG, who had not known defeat in all competitions since their setback against Bayern Munich…risk remembering for a moment this disappointment which awakens the club’s worst nightmares.
“Because during the entire match, PSG devoured Liverpool as they have devoured everyone since the beginning of the calendar year.
“But they suddenly lost, during this round of 16 first leg, the offensive realism which has extinguished the rest of Ligue 1 since Christmas.”
The famously critical newspaper gave Alisson a nine-out-of-10 rating for his Man of the Match showing, describing his display as “almost miraculous”:
“Luis Enrique’s team had also not yet come across a goalkeeper as exceptional as Alisson in 2025.
“Among the 10 or so saves made by the 32-year-old Brazilian, some were almost miraculous.”
That certainly contrasted with the input of PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, with Le Parisien rating the Italian a four out of 10:
There is reason to regret. Little used in a match that his team had in hand, the Italian could only deflect Elliott’s cross shot at the end of the match.
“Liverpool’s only shot on target…enough to rekindle the debate about his future.”
Newspaper Le Monde lamented how PSG “never found the key” and heaped pressure on the second leg:
“Dominant for almost the entire match, Luis Enrique’s men never found the key before losing against the run of play on a strike from the Englishman Harvey Elliott in the final minutes of the match.
“Ousmane Dembele and his teammates no longer have a choice: they will have to win on the pitch of the English championship leader, Tuesday March 11, if they want to continue to believe in a first title in the most prestigious of European club competitions.
“But, before thinking about their trip to the banks of the Mersey, they will have to digest the scenario of the first leg.”
Severac, elsewhere in his column for Le Parisien, also turned the focus to Anfield, with PSG needing to “resist its magical atmosphere”:
“In less than a week in Liverpool, it will be necessary to resist Anfield and its magical atmosphere, the experience of the Reds, with a goal in advance, and finally score.
“It is a lot and perhaps too much for this PSG so beautiful but still a little small for these summits.”
Liverpool are now favourites to progress to the quarter-finals where one of Aston Villa or Club Brugge await.
But first their focus will turn back to the Premier League and Saturday’s visit of Southampton – with a maximum of seven wins required from 10 games to clinch the title.
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