Paris St Germain beat Liverpool 4-1 in a penalty shootout to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals after winning a rip-roaring last-16 second-leg match at Anfield 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to a goal from livewire Ousmane Dembele.

After the tie had finished 1-1 on aggregate, PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved spot kicks from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones, while the visitors, who have never won the Champions League, converted all of their efforts.

Ligue 1 leaders PSG will meet either Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the quarters, with Villa taking a 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s second leg.

Dembele stunned the Anfield crowd with his 12th-minute goal against the run of play. Ibrahima Konate slid in to block Bradley Barcola’s effort but pushed the ball away from goalkeeper Alisson in the process, and Dembele needed only to knock it into an empty net.

The goal was the earliest Premier League-leading Liverpool had conceded at Anfield in the Champions League since September 2017 against Sevilla.

Arne Slot’s team played considerably better than a week earlier — when they needed a last-gasp goal from substitute Harvey Elliott after the Parisians had dominated — and Reds talisman Mohamed Salah had a shot blocked on the goal line by Nuno Mendes in the game’s first few minutes.

Donnarumma was forced into making an early diving save to keep out a shot from Konate, but both sides spurned chances in a nervy game that had fans on the edge of their seats.

Six-times European champions Liverpool parked themselves in PSG’s territory for much of the second half of normal time and had a goal from Dominik Szoboszlai chalked off for offside in the build-up early in the second period.

They kept Donnarumma busy in the dying minutes, with the keeper parrying away ball after ball fired into the box, but it was Dembele who unleashed what looked like the winner in extra time before Alisson made a dramatic diving save to push the ball wide with his fingertips.

PSG were rock solid under pressure in the shootout, with Vitinha, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele and Desire Doue all finding the net. Liverpool got off to a good start with Salah slamming his effort home, but Nunez and Jones both had tame efforts comfortably stopped by Donnarumma, with Slot wrapping a disconsolate Nunez in a hug afterwards.

‘RAN OUT OF LUCK’

The Liverpool boss was magnanimous in defeat and even had words of praise for his beaten side.

“I think it was the best game of football I’ve ever been involved in,” he said.

“We ran out of luck maybe after last week. After 90 minutes we played the perfect game except for not scoring.”

History was not on the Parisians’ side on Tuesday, as they became just the fourth of 28 teams to progress after losing the first leg at home in a Champions League knockout tie.

“Both of the teams deserve to go to the next phase,” said PSG boss Luis Enrique.

“They played better than us here, but I think my team at Anfield, in a special stadium showed great personality and character.

“We tried to play our best, but it was difficult as they’re so intense. Both teams deserve to qualify.”

The thousands of travelling fans, many of them shirtless despite the chilly temperature, were not daunted by their team’s odds, as they danced and sang until the final whistle.

Liverpool have little time to rest ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final against Newcastle United.

“It’s part of football,” Reds captain Virgil van Dijk said of Tuesday’s defeat. “I said to the guys, ‘Obviously, you can be disappointed because we’re out of the competition, but chin up and get ready for the next challenge, a beautiful one on the weekend’.”

-Reuters

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Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique believes the winner of his team’s last 16 clash with Liverpool on Tuesday will go on to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League.

PSG face the Premier League leaders in the second leg at Anfield with the daunting task of having to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first meeting in Paris.

Luis Enrique’s men delivered a dominant display at the Parc des Princes, but were unable to find a way past inspired Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

Liverpool’s quality remains clear to the former Barcelona boss despite that spluttering display from the Reds and he is convinced whoever finishes victorious this week is certain to play in May 31’s final in Munich.

“Even though we’re trailing from the first leg, we will be playing our own game from the outset. Regardless of the result in Paris we wouldn’t do anything different,” he told reporters on Monday.

“Our only option is to go out and win and that is what is driving us. I don’t think Arne Slot has much doubts about our starting line-up, I’ve got my ideas about his starting line-up as well.

“I’m not going to give away who we are going to play or how we are going to play, but we will see two of the best teams in Europe, two contenders for the final and whoever goes through will go through to the final.”

Enrique is confident the Ligue 1 leaders can cope with the intense environment at Anfield, a stadium famous for Liverpool supporters generating a hostile atmosphere on big European nights.

“I am pretty convinced that absolutely every single one of my players will want to play,” he said.

“We know what Liverpool means with a historic stadium and a wonderful history. It’s a huge source of motivation for the players and we want to show we are capable of putting in a performance.

“It is difficult to manage one’s emotions and feelings, these are not easy games to prepare for and it is not easy to be at 100 per cent.

“But you don’t want to be at 105 or 110 per cent because you could get carried away so you have to manage your emotions in the best possible way.”

PSG lost on their only previous trips to Anfield in 1997 and 2018, but winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is not concerned by the prospect of playing in such an intimidating arena.

“When you play at Anfield against Liverpool you don’t need to motivate yourself that much, you already have it inside you,” the Georgia attacker said.

“The game will be 50-50. We have a big mentality in the team and we will just try to win. r

“It will be the most important game in our season because our goal is to play in the Champions League many times and play in the final.”

-AFP

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Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge looks shot and injuries still hamstring them but Champions League glory is within reach, according to former great Thierry Henry.

Arsenal obliterated PSV Eindhoven 7-1 away on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash and all but guaranteed a quarter-final meeting with either holders Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid next month.

Jurrien Timber, scorer of Arsenal’s opening goal, said before the trip to the Netherlands that it was a chance for Mikel Arteta’s side to change the narrative after a disappointing run of form in the Premier League.

And the dazzling display at the Philips Stadion certainly did that as Arsenal made a massive statement of intent.

Henry, Arsenal’s all-time leading goal scorer who played in the 2006 Champions League final defeat by Barcelona, believes that the title race being virtually over will allow the London club to focus squarely on Europe.

“Yes, they can (win the Champions League),” Henry told CBS Sports Golazo. “I do believe that, this is why I called it.

“I’m just saying now, show us that you can do that against a good team, with people that are coming back.

“No disrespect to Eindhoven, I really thought it was going to be difficult, especially away from home but they made it look easy. I think they had an outstanding game.”

Arsenal would be at a slight disadvantage in the quarter-final with the home leg first, but Henry said the display against PSV should fill them with confidence.

“We all know that the (Premier) League is over. Apart from if something crazy happens but what I’m trying to say is that this game can help maybe to be confident in this competition and the game that you have after, Real Madrid or Atletico,” the Frenchman said.

“Sometimes I think the path to the final can at times help or not, but if you want to win the competition you have to go through these teams.”

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