NO LOVE LOST IN PARIS
Neymar and Robertson get familiar as Klopp’s men are seen off in French capital
JURGEN KLOPP took a swipe at Paris SaintGermain’s theatrics as another away defeat in Europe left Liverpool facing a final Group C cliff-hanger.
Six Liverpool players were booked by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, with Neymar in particular reacting theatrically to a number of challenges.
‘There were 500,000 interruptions in the second half and the referee still thinks he did everything right,’ fumed Klopp. ‘We are the fairest team in England if you look at the table, but here we looked like butchers. It looks like we use elbows and everything.’
When Klopp was told that a 1-0 win would be sufficient against group leaders Napoli in the final fixture, he replied: ‘Good. We will score a goal and then the final whistle will happen and we can go home. We have to take the result but it still feels a bit rubbish and now we have to use Anfield one more time. We are calling Anfield actually… right now.’
Liverpool were 2-0 down after 37 minutes and it could have been more. To be only a goal down at half-time after James Milner’s penalty was something of a miracle.
PSG were wonderful at times. Their gilded front four of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria and Edinson Cavani were in irrepressible form, at least when standing upright.
The longer the night went on, the more we saw players in white fall to said the German. ‘If you are 1-0 down, then don’t commit ten fouls in the next ten minutes.
‘When I lose a big game I am angry and I will talk about other stuff to bring attention away from my team also. I hear Jurgen has his opinion and that’s fine.’
This result means it’s now three straight away Champions League defeats for Klopp, but Liverpool only need to do something that normally comes quite naturally to them for a last-16 spot to be theirs.
A decent win at home against Napoli in a fortnight and Klopp’s team will make it through. Victory by a 1-0 scoreline — or by two goals — will do it largely because tied teams are separated by head-to-head record.
Liverpool have a chance and we are in for another stellar night at Anfield. They have been asked bigger questions in Europe in the past and found answers.
That, however, is pretty much where the good news starts and ends. This looked a tough group at the outset and that is how it has turned out.
Nevertheless, Liverpool have made a bit of a mess of things and nobody would have expected that after their run to the final last May.
For PSG, the latter stages of Europe’s premier competition have not yet been reached despite their vast amount of petrodollars. Big results have too often proved beyond them against the elite. So the French side will see this as a landmark result.
They had been embarrassed for an hour at Anfield in September before belatedly making a game of it. In the end, they lost 3-2.
Here was their revenge and they celebrated as though they had achieved something special. Still to travel to Belgrade for their final game, PSG are not yet sure of qualification, but it would be a surprise if they threw it away.
In the opening stages, they were dynamite. One of Liverpool’s issues this season is that Klopp seems unsure of his best central-defensive partnership. Here he went with Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren, with Joe Gomez at right-back.
Between them, Neymar and Mbappe tore poor Gomez to pieces. Both goals came from that
side. Playmaker Marco Verratti was just as potent and Liverpool struggled to cope. The opening goal was typical of PSG’s football as they swept the ball upfield on the back of progressive passing in the 13th minute.
The danger might have been cleared had Van Dijk been able to get a firmer foot on Mbappe’s low cross. But instead the ball looped into the path of Juan Bernat and a sound first touch moved the ball inside Gomez before he drove it low to the right of goalkeeper Alisson.
Verratti was lucky to stay on the field after a lunge at Gomez, but that was forgotten as PSG speared Liverpool with a superb second goal.
When Roberto Firmino lost the ball deep in French territory, there seemed to be little danger, but the speed with which Neymar and Mbappe countered was astonishing.
Mbappe’s cross reached Cavani, whose shot was saved well by Alisson, but Neymar had followed play and drove in the loose ball.
Liverpool looked out of the game. The traffic was only flowing one way. But referee Marciniak was persuaded, rightly, by his assistant on the goal-line to award a penalty for Di Maria’s trip on Sadio Mane, and when Milner scored rightfooted, the English team were unexpectedly reborn.
After that they were better but still not good enough. For all the possession they had, Liverpool created precious little.
So, this was another bad night for Liverpool but opportunity remains.