Liverpool

Liverpool boss Arne Slot paid tribute to the supporters at the Parc de Princes, speaking to TNT Sports after Wednesday's Champions League win against Paris St-Germain:

"There were a lot of similarities with our game against Manchester City, where we faced a team that is so good in ball possession and have some great wingers that dominate one v one situations.

"I said before the game that we would not dominate ball possession over here. The only thing I can blame my players for is that four, five or six times we tried to play through them and it was completely open and the last touch should be better.

"Maybe it was due to tiredness from defending so much. That is sometimes difficult after defending so much.

"If you look at the underlying stats in the Champions League too, it shows you they were number one and they have already played Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Arsenal. To have the best stats after facing that quality tells you a lot.

"For us, the only way over here with their fans behind them was to defend as we did. Now we are hoping that our fans at Anfield will help us a lot. We will need Anfield two times."

James: xG under two suggests that the chances weren't quite that clear cut for PSG. Not taking anything away from Alisson, but...

Spoil sport James, but you are quite right. Plenty of those PSG shots were from distance, but so many looked to be heading for the corner before Alisson intervened...

Image source, Getty Images

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, speaking to TNT Sports after Wednesday's Champions League win against Paris St-Germain:

"It was probably the performance of my life. The manager was telling us how hard it would be to play against PSG, how good they are with the ball and that we would have to be ready to suffer. We knew what was coming.

"We worked hard. We gave away so many chances, sometimes one v one, but the biggest part of the chase is having someone make the player with the chance think a bit more.

"All the efforts the team put in makes my job easier. Then at the end, Harvey [Elliott] coming in and scoring the goal, it is a great story for us. A great night."

Alisson was well aware he had put in a special performance, describing it as probably his best ever in his post-match interview. Let's see a bit more of what the Liverpool goalkeeper had to say...

John Murray
BBC Radio 5 Live chief football correspondent in Paris

Late in the evening after the match a Parisian bistro owner, a PSG fan, was telling me the great passions of his life are football and opera.

And this match was both of those things rolled into one with Alisson playing the role of the lead tenor.

It is a debate, 'who is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League?' and 'who is the best goalkeeper in the world?', and in the Parc des Princes Alisson produced the kind of performance that shows why he has a claim on both of this titles.

He made nine saves during the match, a one-on-one with Dembele in the first half and a flying save from Doue in the second the pick of them.

If Liverpool had emerged with a draw we’d have been saying they had got off lightly, but the late winning goal from substitute Harvey Elliott meant it was a classic ecraser et attraper (smash and grab)….as they don’t say at the opera.

James: Not sure Kelleher makes "most" team's XIs, Robert. Wolves, West Ham, Ipswich and Chelsea perhaps. He's good, but not _that_ good.

Alan: Dan - I really don't think Martinez ever took the best GK in the world trophy off Alisson.

Anon: To John, short memory you have, 2022 LFC battered Real Madrid in the final and lost 1-0 due to Courtois heroics, was this not the same?

You can always rely on our readership to provide a check and balance...

Paris St-Germain's 27 shots in this match - the second-most on record (since 2003-04) by a side in a Champions League knockout match in which they both failed to score and lost, behind only PSG themselves v Borussia Dortmund in May 2024 (30).

Image source, Opta

Liverpool won this match despite having 25 fewer shots than PSG - the joint-largest negative difference in shots by a winning team on record (since 2003-04) in a Champions League knockout game (PSG v Bayern in April 2021 also 25, six shots to 31).

Image source, Opta

Stephen Warnock
Former Liverpool defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

You need your goalkeeper to be at his very best - and he was.

Harvey Elliott has just jumped on Alisson and given him a big hug. They're probably thinking how they got away with that - they got away with it because of Alisson. It was just a world-class performance from the goalkeeper.

You buy those type of players for performances like that. That's why he was brought into the club, because he was recognised as arguably the best goalkeeper in world football.

That's how you win titles, that's how they won the Champions League [in 2019] because Alisson was so key to the way they performed.

Image source, Getty Images

Check out that Alisson video in the last post if you missed last night's Liverpool game and want to know what all the fuss is about.

We have had a flood of praise for the Reds goalkeeper this morning on the texts and socials.

Let's have a see what the pundits have had to say about Alisson's performance against PSG...

Watch Alisson at his best as Liverpool's Brazilian goalkeeper pulls off a number of brilliant shot-stopping saves to frustrate the home side in Paris.

If you missed our first post of the day, where were you?

Give yourself a minute or two to digest this little lot - all the goals from this week's Champions League last-16 first-leg ties.

Enjoy

Image source, Getty Images

It was the ultimate smash and grab.

Liverpool were on the ropes for 87 minutes against Paris St-Germain at the Parc des Princes, but Harvey Elliott struck 46 seconds after coming on as a substitute to secure a 1-0 first-leg advantage for the Reds in their last-16 tie.

The hosts could, and should, have been out of sight as they peppered the Liverpool goal throughout - having 27 attempts compared to just two for the visitors.

But PSG found Brazil goalkeeper Alisson in otherworldly form, with the 32-year-old repelling everything that came his way to frustrate the French champions.

His nine saves were the most by a Liverpool goalkeeper in a Champions League game since Opta started recording the data in 2003-04.

Right, on to Liverpool...

Today's national newspapers are universal in their praise of Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

It's not every day that a substitute comes on to score the winner but has to share top billing with the goalkeeper.

We are pretty sure Harvey Elliott won't mind though...

Image source, Daily Mail

Image source, Daily Star

Just a reminder folks that, should Liverpool and Aston Villa make it through their respective last-16 ties then they will meet in the quarter-finals.

Arsenal must surely have done enough to book their place with that 7-1 win away from home in their first leg at PSV.

Mikel Arteta's side can now look forward to a last-eight tie against either Real Madrid or Atletico. Real will take a 2-1 aggregate lead to their city rivals for their second leg on 12 March.

Marissa Thomas
BBC Sport

Lautaro Martinez scored a landmark goal as Inter Milan took a commanding lead against Feyenoord in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Marcus Thuram struck their opener seven minutes before the break when he stabbed home Nicolo Barella's looping ball into the box from close range.

Inter doubled their lead five minutes after the interval as captain Martinez fired high into the roof of the net from Piotr Zielinski's lay-off.

It was the Argentine's 18th goal in the competition and took him one clear of the legendary Sandro Mazzola as the club's record scorer in Europe's top-tier cup competition.

Polish midfielder Zielinski had a chance to get on the scoresheet when Thuram was fouled in the box by Jeyland Mitchell - but Timon Wellenreuther got down low to his right to save the penalty.

Hang on, asking the questions is supposed to be our job...but yes, what John said.