Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has given his honest assessment of the exit of the Reds' Champions League after their defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.
The 47-year-old said he felt 'empty' after the defeat in Anfield, but admitted that the better side progressed after Tuesday's penalty shootout.
Carragher, who looked at the game with his friends, thought about the game and how it slipped on the side of Arne Slot.
Carragher felt that Liverpool dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and seemed to win to win 'comfortably' before 'walking out of steam'.
Ousmane Dembele bounced early on a somewhat defensive mix to see PSG with 1-0, after he had lost Liverpool with the same margin during the first stage.
The Reds did their best to bounce back, but failed to break down in the resilient defense of PSG. As a result, their destiny depended on a penalty shootout.
Gianluigi Donnarumma shone for PSG and saved penalties from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones before Doue Doue kept the winning spot kick home.
Speaking of the result after the game, Carragher told CBS: “I was a bit emptied about the result, but listening, the best team won – Peng.”
'We saw how they performed in the first stage to make it 1-0. I called it a robbery. In this game I thought that the first 20 minutes to half an hour had the feeling that Liverpool would win the game comfortably. They just couldn't get that goal early. They had two or three chances that they did not store, then PSG got that goal.
'For the rest of the game it felt NIP and Tuck. In extra time it just felt like PSG really took over. Where I was in the head, we were all just desperate and they really hang on for punishments. But even that was not a fact – it is a lottery and something can happen. '
Despite the disappointment, Carragher praised the atmosphere in Anfield and described how the crowd did everything they could to push the team over the line.
“Listen, the atmosphere was brilliant tonight,” he said. 'I was in the head with my friends, but we just didn't get the goal of getting crazy. I think we had a few – one was rejected, I think, and someone who hit the inside of the pole, so we went crazy.
'I thought we attacked the head in the second half and I thought that would be a small omen that we would get the winning goal, but we just didn't have any steam anymore. We just really hung on. '
Carragher also took the time to credit the most important artists of PSG, in particular their midfield and defensive efforts to contain Liverpool's attack.
'I thought the left back [Nuno Mendes] Against Salah was excellent again. He has been brilliant in the two games. I think the two midfield players, Vitinha and Neves, were brilliant.
“I thought for the first kind of hour, maybe a little more – maybe 70 minutes – it was a brilliant game from both sides.”
Liverpool will now focus their attention on domestic competitions, with the Champions League dream for this season. In the meantime, PSG continues to the quarterfinals, hoping to finally secure European glory.
Comments