Paris Saint-Germain struck first in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final, seeing off Liverpool 2-0 and taking their unbeaten run in knockout games in this competition to eight matches, a record for any French club.
Having already knocked out four English clubs in two-legged ties, including a thumping 8-2 aggregate win over Chelsea in the previous round, Arne Slot’s side knew they were in for a tough night in the French capital. So it proved when Désiré Doué broke the deadlock with just 11 minutes gone. Dembélé danced his way past the Liverpool backline and teed up his fellow Frenchman, whose effort deflected heavily and sailed over Mamardashvili.
Liverpool managed to keep things reasonably tight after that, and Mamardashvili came up trumps twice to keep out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Doué before the whistle went at half time.
The second half saw Liverpool carve out the odd chance, with Ekitiké heading over and Dembélé failing to capitalise on a Nuno Mendes cut-back. PSG eventually doubled their lead on 65 minutes when Kvaratskhelia, picked out perfectly by João Neves, glided into the penalty area and finished coolly from close range. Liverpool were nearly made to suffer further when the referee pointed to the spot after Konaté brought down Zaïre-Emery, only for VAR to come to the Reds’ rescue and chalk the decision off.
PSG went close to adding a third late on, Dembélé clips the outside of the post, but two goals was how it finished. Liverpool trudge back to Merseyside knowing they face a real uphill battle in the second leg at Anfield, five defeats in their last six away matches tells its own story in what has been a thoroughly underwhelming campaign. PSG, by contrast, are flying, with five straight wins across all competitions keeping their title defence very much alive.
