Arne Slot insists that his players “can be proud” of their performances in the UEFA Champions League, despite bowing out of the competition on Tuesday after a penalty shootout loss to PSG.
The Dutchman described the game, in which Ousmane Dembélé levelled the aggregate scoreline in the first half, as “the best game of football I was ever involved in […between] two teams of an incredible level [at] an incredible intensity.”
“Over 90 minutes, I don’t think we deserved to lose this game of football today,” he told reporters, but accepted that “over 180 minutes, maybe it was deserved that we went to overtime. In overtime, I thought PSG were a bit better than us in this half-hour and then it comes down to penalties: they scored four, us one, and we lost.”
It comes as a shock to the system for a Liverpool side that has looked indomitable so far this season. The Reds have built up a staggering lead at the top of the Premier League and have reached the final of the Carabao Cup too – but this won’t be the season in which their 7th European title arrives.
“Of course it’s a shock,” Slot accepted, but highlighted that “if you have to go out, then go out in the way we did against one of the best teams in Europe – make such a fight out of it.”
“I hope and think every fan around the world was hoping this game would just keep on going, it wouldn’t stop, because it was incredible. They in the end won and for us, it is so, so, so unlucky if you are number 1 in the league table that you then face Paris Saint-Germain, which is one of the best teams in Europe, but that’s the format we are in. We have to accept it and we will come back stronger next season.”
Still, there is plenty for Slot to be proud of. The 46-year-old reminded fans: “We won seven games in a. row and then we played with our substitutes and lost against PSV. I think we played last week not our best game, but today, we saw a completely different Liverpool. We go out in a way that I think has impressed Europe.”
But the Dutchman did highlight a flaw in the revamped League Phase system, questioning whether it’s fair for Liverpool to face a mammoth side like PSG in the quarter-finals after such a dominant showing in their first eight games.
“It is something now to take into consideration about how much worth it is to end up first in the league table if you can face Paris Saint-Germain in the next round. It is what it is. Maybe I am [speaking] too soon now but maybe it would be more fair that after [the play-offs], the one that wins the league table plays against the team that is lowest position after the teams have played. But that is also because we were so unlucky to play PSG because we could have also gone to the other side of the draw.”
“In the end, if you want to win the tournament you have to beat teams like Paris Saint-Germain and that’s what we didn’t do today after an incredible first 90 minutes of football from us.”