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Liverpool’s Champions League hopes ended by PSG
Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk appears dejected after Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele scored the opening goal during the Champions League quarter-final match at Anfield
Liverpool 0-2 PSG (0-4 on aggregate)
by James Nalton
at Anfield
ANY hopes of Liverpool achieving some kind of success in the 2025/26 season came to an end on Tuesday night when Paris Saint-Germain confirmed their superiority at Anfield with a repeat of the 2-0 win seen in Paris a week earlier.
The final scoreline of 2-0 was not surprising, and took the team from the French capital to a fully deserved 4-0 aggregate win.
The defending European champions remain the best team on the continent, and could become the first since Real Madrid in 2018 to retain the title.
Anfield itself was its usual force on a European night, getting behind the team as it has on so many previous occasions when comebacks have been staged and memorable victories won.
Though the fans and the atmosphere they produced played their part, anyone detached from that belief and hope (that those home fans needed if their team was to have any chance at all) could have guessed this outcome pre-match.
This doesn’t feel like the Liverpool teams of old. Even some of those teams in the barren years of domestic titles felt like they could pull something out of the bag in Europe, as they did famously in 2005, when they won the final in Istanbul, and again in 2008 when they reached the final in Athens.
When Jurgen Klopp took over in 2015, a domestic league title still felt some way off, and was at best a work in progress, but even in the early stages of that progress, when they were finishing eighth and then fourth in the league, they still managed to reach a Europa League final in 2015 and a Champions League final in 2018, before eventually winning it in 2019.
Despite last season’s domestic success, when the club topped the Premier League for the second time in six seasons, there were no real signs that this team had the capacity to do something special in Europe.
It appears they no longer have the capacity for domestic success either. The Premier League title defence was over fairly quickly, and Champions League qualification for the 2026/27 season is still not guaranteed with six games left.
PSG themselves have shades of the strong Liverpool sides of recent years, with energetic play out of possession and intense pressing in certain moments. Alongside this, they have great technique across the team, meaning they are comfortable and creative in possession.
Having weathered what Liverpool and the Merseyside climate had to throw at them, which included some pressure from the opposition team, especially in the second half, and swirling wind and rain, PSG eventually finished the job thanks to two goals from Ousmane Dembele.
The English champions were out of the Champions League, and in terms of this tie, never looked like they were in it. The task of making sure they can compete next season begins now.
The final scoreline of 2-0 was not surprising, and took the team from the French capital to a fully deserved 4-0 aggregate win.
The defending European champions remain the best team on the continent, and could become the first since Real Madrid in 2018 to retain the title.
Anfield itself was its usual force on a European night, getting behind the team as it has on so many previous occasions when comebacks have been staged and memorable victories won.
Though the fans and the atmosphere they produced played their part, anyone detached from that belief and hope (that those home fans needed if their team was to have any chance at all) could have guessed this outcome pre-match.
This doesn’t feel like the Liverpool teams of old. Even some of those teams in the barren years of domestic titles felt like they could pull something out of the bag in Europe, as they did famously in 2005, when they won the final in Istanbul, and again in 2008 when they reached the final in Athens.
When Jurgen Klopp took over in 2015, a domestic league title still felt some way off, and was at best a work in progress, but even in the early stages of that progress, when they were finishing eighth and then fourth in the league, they still managed to reach a Europa League final in 2015 and a Champions League final in 2018, before eventually winning it in 2019.
Despite last season’s domestic success, when the club topped the Premier League for the second time in six seasons, there were no real signs that this team had the capacity to do something special in Europe.
It appears they no longer have the capacity for domestic success either. The Premier League title defence was over fairly quickly, and Champions League qualification for the 2026/27 season is still not guaranteed with six games left.
PSG themselves have shades of the strong Liverpool sides of recent years, with energetic play out of possession and intense pressing in certain moments. Alongside this, they have great technique across the team, meaning they are comfortable and creative in possession.
Having weathered what Liverpool and the Merseyside climate had to throw at them, which included some pressure from the opposition team, especially in the second half, and swirling wind and rain, PSG eventually finished the job thanks to two goals from Ousmane Dembele.
The English champions were out of the Champions League, and in terms of this tie, never looked like they were in it. The task of making sure they can compete next season begins now.
