A great performance but a cruel result for Paris vs. Liverpool

A handful of days after their win over Lille in Ligue 1 (4-1), Paris Saint-Germain were back at the Parc des Princes where the atmosphere was volcanic with the top-ranked side from the League Phase, Liverpool, the visitors. To face that challenge, Luis Enrique had captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in central defence in front of  Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal. Achraf Hakimi started on the right with Nuno Mendes on the opposite flank. In midfield, Vitinha was in front of the back four with João Neves and Fabian Ruiz just ahead. In attack, Ousmane Dembélé started in the middle with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Bradley Barcola on the wings.

Both teams started with firm intentions of imposing their game, on and off the ball. It is tough to match Liverpool in terms of counter-pressing, but Paris did so, and - pushed on by their fans - took the upper hand. On the right, Dembélé brilliantly found his way past Andrew Robertson and picked out João Neves, who sent a shot over the bar (16').

Paris pushed on and thought they had made the breakthrough thanks to a brilliant curling effort from Kvaratskhelia, but VAR spotted a marginal offside to rule it out (21'). A few minutes later, Bradley Barcola got in behind France teammate Ibrahima Konaté. The defender's push in the back on the Paris forward went unpunished though (25'). Kvaratskhelia  then severely tested Alisson (29'), who also stood firm in the face of Dembélé (30').

Nothing was going the Parisians' way, and sensing the team needed their support, the fans stepped up their game. The better side all over the pitch, Paris picked up where they left off after half-time and Kvaratskhelia brought yet another fine stop from Alisson from a well-struck free-kick (54').

With Liverpool seemingly tamed, the Rouge-et-Bleu looked destined to score as they pushed forward at will. But though the Reds' backline creaked, it did not crack, even if it took another world-class save from Alisson to deny Desiré Doué (80'). It became an even better stop when the capital club were picked off cruelly and Harvey Elliott opened the scoring against the run of play (0-1, 86').

So, Liverpool take a slender advantage into next Tuesday's second leg thanks to a miraculous win. Despite their regrets, the Parisians had the Parc bouncing, and Luis Enrique's men will head to Anfield with confidence. Before that, they must go to Roazhon Park to face Stade Rennais FC in Saturday's Ligue 1 game (5pm CET).