'This is a club worried'- National media react to 'outclassed' Liverpool's loss to PSG
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.
How the national media reacted to Liverpool's 2-0 loss in their Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie at Paris Saint-GermainLiverpool’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League were dealt a huge blow as Paris Saint-Germain won the first leg 2-0 at Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.Goals from Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia did the damage for Arne Slot’s side, who suffered their 16th defeat of the campaign.The ECHO was in the French capital to run the rule over proceedings and you can read our match verdict, player ratings, post-game analysis and the reactions of Liverpool head coach Slot and his PSG counterpart Luis Enrique on our pages now.Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own considered take - and here’s what they made of it as the Reds were beaten in Paris....FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! This is a Liverpool weakened by internal strife and tortured by the growing antipathy of the fan-base towards manager Arne Slot and his beleaguered players.“This is a club worried that a schism is growing between fans and players, that frets about Hugo Ekitike swapping shirts with Rayan Cherki during their dismantling by Manchester City at the weekend, fans and ex-players horrified by Virgil van Dijk’s suggestion that some of the players gave up during that game, angry that Dominik Szoboszlai should complain about the fans’ lack of support, and fans complaining that the players do not even want to live on Merseyside.“The institution that is Liverpool is creaking and groaning and PSG are not the team to play when life is hard.
In this Champions League quarter-final first leg, PSG grabbed at those fraying seams and ripped them apart.”Over on The Independent, Richard Jolly writes: “The good news for Liverpool is that they do not require their greatest Anfield comeback in Europe. He would succeed only in scuffing his kick and an effort rolled apologetically into the arms of the Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.“On that occasion, it was Lionel Messi who reacted by lying in an anguished heap on the turf, his intuition that Barcelona would rue not having plundered another goal proving to be correct the following week at a baying Anfield.“But that was then, and this is now.”Mike McGrath, of The Telegraph, writes: “There was no sign of the white flag being waved, yet Liverpool had no answer to the attacking football in front of them here in Paris, embodied by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s wonder goal.
They failed to lay a glove on the European champions, who could have added to the scoreline just like Manchester City at the weekend, when Virgil van Dijk admitted some players had given up.“Arne Slot’s players could not be accused of that at Parc des Princes, but their body language raised the question: how can they score a goal against this PSG team? It seems oddly fitting.“A 2-0 defeat here may leave enough room for Slot and his squad to talk up their ability to force the type of European comeback for which Liverpool are famous for at home next week, but this is not a group of players who, deep down, will genuinely believe it can be achieved.“Chins are on the floor, shoulders are hunched and confidence on the back of successive defeats to Manchester City and PSG - where six goals were shipped without reply - is now perhaps at an all-time low.”