PSG star outlines crucial change since beating Liverpool last season
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Achraf Hakimi said PSG's status as European champions has given the club a new level of confidence ahead of their Champions League quarter-final second leg at Anfield on TuesdayAchraf Hakimi spoke to the media ahead of the Liverpool-PSG second leg(Image: Getty)Achraf Hakimi knows what Anfield feels like. He knows the noise, the atmosphere, and the particular brand of pressure that Liverpool's stadium generates on European nights.He experienced it last season when PSG beat Liverpool there in the round of 16, a victory that served as a launching pad for the Parisian club's march to the Champions League title.
On Tuesday, he goes back, and he believes this PSG is a different proposition entirely from the one that made that journey.Speaking ahead of the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Hakimi identified the source of that difference with clarity. "We are the champions of this competition, and that has helped us learn how to manage this type of match."PSG's route to last season's title included that Anfield victory, a semi-final success over Arsenal, with Hakimi himself scoring the decisive goal in the second leg, and a stunning 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan in the final, in which the Moroccan right back also opened the scoring.The experience of winning under pressure, he suggested, has fundamentally changed how this squad approaches knockout football.PSG outplayed Liverpool in the first leg(Image: Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)"I think that in this type of competition, there are no favorites," he said.
"I had to come back quickly to play in the Africa Cup of Nations, but now I'm feeling better and better."Arne Slot has been criticized for his tactics in Liverpool's defeat to PSG(Image: Getty Images)He also spoke warmly about the influence of manager Luis Enrique, crediting the Spaniard with reshaping his understanding of the full-back position. "But when he's not there, I try to pass on the message he would give us, that we must give everything for this shirt and for this club.