Introduction
After the remarkable win against PSG who dominated the game completely, Liverpool came back to their own turf with an advantage thanks to Elliott’s goal, which was the only shot on target on that night. With the home crowd behind them, Liverpool began the game on the front foot by pressing high with more intensity than the previous leg. It forced some errors from PSG, but in 12th minutes, Dembélé found the back of the net and PSG equalised the game on aggregate. PSG hadn’t stopped and generated 2.03 xG just in the first half. The combined xG of both teams was 3.04 in the first half, but the explosive start didn’t last long as the combined xG of both teams was only 1.17 in the rest of the game.
The penalty shootout was a one-man show by Donnarumma. He saved two penalties in a row to help the team progress into the next round. Liverpool exited the tournament on the same day when Atletico knocked them out at Anfield five years ago.
This article is to analyse the 2nd leg of the round 16 between Liverpool and PSG, and if you are interested in the analysis of the 1st leg, here’s the one.
Before moving on, here’s the lineup of both teams for this game. Nothing changed from the 1st leg.
The only difference was that Kvaratskhelia was on the right and Barcola was on the left in the 1st leg, but during the game, they swapped each position and Enrique continued the deployment.
Intense pressing from Liverpool
Liverpool were more aggressive than the previous leg. They started the game with high pressing and the intensity matched. In the 1st leg, they preferred to setting a compact block in the midfield, but this time they were more front footed. The example below is how they applied pressure in the third minute of the game.
As it is shown in the illustration above, Díaz often pulled the trigger to press high with cutting the passing lane from Marquinhos to Hakimi, and Szoboszlai followed and forced Pacho to kick the ball away.
Especially, what made it possible for Liverpool to keep applying pressure on the ball was double efforts. This means that when a player presses to the opponent on the ball and he played back, the player keeps chasing the ball and presses to another opponent on the ball.
In this example replicating Liverpool’s pressing in 8th minutes, Mac Allister followed Neves who dropped back to receive the pass from Vitinha and laid it off back to him, and Mac Allister didn’t stop there. He continued to chase the ball towards Pacho and even Mendes. This forced PSG to play back, and it did help the team to push the lines up. Eventually, the ball was kicked away by Donnarumma and Van Dijk recovered it. This “double effort” represented their desire to press and win the ball high up the pitch.
However, pressing high stretches the gap between the lines and it was exploited by PSG.
PSG found the solution
The build up to the goal shows how PSG found the solution. In 12th minutes, Marquinhos regained the ball launched by Van Dijk and Liverpool’s players reacted the transition moment quickly and tried to apply consistent pressure. Against this counterpress, PSG had to play back and circulated the ball to Mendes, but this stretched Liverpool’s shape. Additionally, Kvaratskhelia dropped back to drag Alexander-Arnold out and Vitinha made a run into the channel, which also helped to disorganise Liverpool’s structure. Both Szoboszlai and Konaté were drawn by him, which left huge space in between the lines for Dembélé.
This combination originated from a run from a half space had been seen from the first leg and Slot took extreme care for this by keeping the compact shape and getting both defensive midfielders to mark tight someone in half spaces, but this time, Liverpool chose to step out and they had to pay the price.
Another great example from PSG is how they found Dembélé in the right pocket in 25th minutes.
Even when Liverpool set the mid block, they couldn’t manage Dembélé floating in between the lines. As Barcola was inside and effectively pinned both Robertson and Van Dijk, so neither could jump on Dembélé.
This kind of area, behind the wingers had been exploited again and again. In 35th minutes, Barcola dropped to receive the pass from Marquinhos behind Díaz and beaten Robertson with Neves.
Barcola chipped the ball to find Neves who drifted outside and he made an overlap to receive the ball from Neves again. Then he drove forwards and played the ball through, and Dembélé cut it back to meet Kvaratskhelia whose shot was deflected and went just above the bar.
Four minutes later, in 39th minutes, Pacho found Mendes behind Salah and they penetrated into the box.
Mendes carried the ball forwards and gave it to Kvaratskhelia who took a shot but it went straight to Alisson.
Overall, after Liverpool’s cycle of long balls and counterpress ended, they let PSG exploit the space where they could only defend with certain level of intensity as it dropped.
The game of transitions
The second half (and the extra time) was another game, which was full of transitions.
Two minutes after Liverpool’s goal had been disallowed due to offside, they won the ball back in the midfield and played counterattack, resulting in Szoboszlai having taken a shot in the box to get a corner kick. From defending this corner kick, PSG had an opportunity to break through quickly, but Liverpool regained the ball in their defensive third and this time it was Liverpool who played a counterattack.
However, this doesn’t mean they generated more chances. According to Sofascore, there was only one big chance in the second half and extra time. And combined xG in this period was just 1.17. The game was already done in the first half. Specifically in the extra time, Liverpool just had one shot with 0.08 xG while PSG had 11 with 0.49 xG.
Slot’s dilemma
It was a great football to watch and enjoy, and PSG really deserved to progress. Liverpool were still in between keeping a compact shape to save intensity and pressing high with accepting the risk. In the 1st leg, Liverpool saved the intensity but were about to lose without Alisson’s performance. In the 2nd leg, they went high pressing mode, but in return, were exploited the risk they took.
Liverpool are still not the side like Man City a few years later who can dominate the game or Real Madrid who can always have individual superiority all over the pitch. Towards the next season, Slot needs to find the right balance between them, or specialise in either way.
