Darwin Nunez Receives Support After Missed Penalty in Liverpool’s Elimination to PSG | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain booked their spot in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals with a 4-1 win in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw on aggregate against Liverpool Tuesday night at Anfield.

The match saw PSG take the lead in the 12th minute when Nuno Mendes played a ball to Ousmane Dembele in the center. Dembele quickly passed it to Bradley Barcola on the right, whose attempt to return the ball was deflected by Ibrahima Konate’s sliding tackle, inadvertently setting up Dembele for a simple finish.

Neither team managed to score in extra time, forcing the game into penalties. PSG successfully converted all four of their attempts against Alisson Becker, while Gianluigi Donnarumma stood strong in goal for the visitors.

After giving up a penalty to Mohamed Salah, Donnarumma made crucial saves against Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones. The shootout ended when Desire Doue calmly slotted home the final penalty, sending PSG through to the next round.

Troy Deeney defends Darwin Nunez after shootout miss

Julian Finney/Getty Images

In the post-match analysis, Nunez is receiving criticism for taking the shot. During a segment on talkSPORT, the discussion surrounded whether it was ideal for Arne Slot to send the Uruguayan as one of the penalty takers.

Nonetheless, Troy Deeney praised Nunez for raising his hand to take the shot and would’ve criticized him more had he opted not to.

“I think for Darwin Nunez, for as much as he does make misses and his confidence has gone a bit, he always works hard, he always puts himself about, and he never shirks the battle in terms of, ‘Go on, then, I’ll take the penalty.’ For me, it was the opposite. If he didn’t want to take a penalty and he moved away from it, I’d probably judge him a lot more. But the fact that he took one, you have to be there to miss, right?”

Liverpool will now focus on their domestic obligations while PSG advance to the quarterfinals and await the winner of Club Brugge or Aston Villa.