How Alisson and Nunez saved Liverpool with late snatch and grab vs PSG | OneFootball

Liverpool managed to pull off an outstanding hit and run on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

The Reds left the Parc des Princes with a 1-0 win having only taken two shots, scoring in the 87th minute.

PSG held 71% possession in the match, took a whopping 27 shots, created three big chances and generated a total of 1.82 Expected Goals. This would have you believe it was an excellent defensive display from Liverpool, but it wasn’t your vintage snatch and grab Champions League performance.

In fact, Luis Enrique’s PSG side did an excellent job at manipulating Liverpool’s passive 4-2-4 pressing scheme, with the French outfit displaying excellent zone replacement strategy in order to drag Slot’s men in to vulnerable positions and assert their control on the game.

Liverpool decided to press in a passive manner, with their front four looking to block central access at the top of the pitch, the two central midfielders in the second line, and a back four who were reluctant to jump out.

This allowed PSG to build up seamlessly from the back at a slow tempo, giving time for their rotations to take place, as they slowly dragged Liverpool’s players around the pitch before looking to strike once they had formed their optimal shape.

Vitinha was hugely key for this with PSG, controlling large parts of the game for Enrique’s side. The Portuguese midfielder took 132 touches in the match, completing 109/114 accurate passes, nine of his 10 attempted long balls and still managing to create three chances.

PSG’s ability to build up at a slow tempo from the back allowed the Portuguese midfielder to drop into the last line, often occupying a temporary left centre-back position, a familiar rotation used by Real Madrid for so many years with Toni Kroos.

This saw Nuno Mendes push forwards to either provide width allowing Bradley Barcola the license to then move inside, or Mendes would take up a central area himself, asking questions of Mo Salah and the Liverpool midfielders as to who’s man he was.

PSG central midfielders Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz did a brilliant job at pinning Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch at the right times, allowing the frontline more freedom to drop into the pockets of space and create overloads on either side.

The brilliance of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Barcola was shining through in this game, and how they didn’t manage to score was absolutely incredible. In fact, it was only the absolutely incredible performance of Alisson between the sticks that stopped them.

Nine times out of 10, PSG walk away with a victory for their performance, completely dominating the game, doing everything right apart from sticking it in the back of the net. However, on this occasion, it was the blockbuster performance of the Liverpool shot-stopper that stole the show.

Alisson made nine saves in the match, equalling his joint-most in a Champions League game in this career, making four of those saves from inside the box. This shutout from the Brazilian means he has now kept more Champions League clean sheets for Liverpool than any other goalkeeper in the UCL era, with 22 clean sheets — breaking Pepe Reina’s record.

Slot’s passive approach also saw Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate remaining in the backline and refusing to jump out to apply pressure, despite PSG’s lack of a natural centre-forward. This often allowed Dembele playing as the false nine to peel off and create overloads on either flank, which in turn led to more shots on goal for the French side.

Despite the poor defensive performance from Liverpool, Alisson showed up when they needed him most, which speaks not only of his quality but also his mentality to step up in the big moments, proving the difference between the good and the elite goalkeepers.

It was his brilliance that meant Liverpool were still hanging in the balance after 87 minutes played, and when you can hang in a game whether it’s through defensive steel or some luck, you always have a chance.

Darwin Nunez was introduced after 67 minutes alongside Curtis Jones, replacing Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz. Where Slot’s side had been unable to get a foothold in the game, Liverpool had resorted to playing long from their first phase of build up and goal kicks.

Initially, Achraf Hakimi was pushing high on the right out of possession, often leaving PSG with a back three and Vitinha just in front when defending Liverpool’s goal kicks & first phase build up routines.

Up to the introduction of Nunez, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho and Mendes had dealt with the long balls well, having Vitinha sweep things up just in front of them. However, Nunez’s presence being injected into the game led to their 87th-minute winner, as Alisson found the Uruguayan from a long ball.

Liverpool were able to produce that moment of chaos by changing the personnel in their front four, giving them more of an outlet to hit from those direct passes, giving them the chance late in the game they had been hoping for.

Despite only taking 12 touches in the match and only completing three of his six attempted passes, Nunez provided that one moment of chaos which changed the tie, giving Liverpool a huge advantage heading back to Anfield next week.