Mo Salah is handed a BRUTAL rating by L’Equipe after his miserable PSG display… with seven Liverpool stars slammed as French press lament ‘English Heist’ after Reds’ late win
Mohamed Salah was one of two Liverpool players slammed by French outlet L’Equipe for their performance in the Reds’ stunning 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
A glance at the notoriously harsh grades of the publication will have you believe Arne Slot’s side returned to Merseyside on Thursday morning with their tails between their legs.
Indeed, another look at the final statistics would bolster this claim. But remarkably, the Premier League leaders secured an unlikely victory in the French capital thanks to the brilliance of their goalkeeper Alisson Becker and the impact of substitute Harvey Elliott.
PSG were good value for a two or three-goal win in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie and had 27 shots to Liverpool’s two and three big chances to the Reds’ one. L’Equipe dubbed the unlikely result an ‘English Heist’.
The uncharacteristically poor display was highlighted best in the performance of Salah who was given a 3/10 by L’Equipe. The Egyptian, who is enjoying a stunning campaign and is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or, was unable to impose himself on the match and was expertly defended by full back Nuno Mendes.
Salah had just 41 touches, failed to complete either of his two crosses or his solitary long ball. The forward also lost all eight of his duels and surrendered possession a whopping 16 times.
Mohamed Salah had a rare night to forget in Paris as Liverpool struggled to show attacking threat against PSG
Andy Robertson was run ragged by the French club’s assortment of talented wide forwards
Thursday’s edition of L’Equipe ran with the headline an ‘English Heist’ after the Reds’ win
He was eventually hooked in the 86th minute, paving the way for his replacement Elliott to score the winner with his first touch 60 seconds later.
The other Reds player to be slammed by the publication was Andy Robertson after he was torn inside and out by PSG’s assortment of devastating wide forwards. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola all took turns to torment the Scotland captain.
The visiting stars with the slightly more favourable rating of 4/10 included Trent Alexander-Arnold, who fared marginally better than his fellow full back up against the Parisian’s take-on merchants.
Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch were also hit with sub-par figures after struggling to various degrees against the French champions.
Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister was given a 5/10, while Liverpool’s central defensive partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate were given sixes. Konate’s grade may have been generous given he was fortunate not to be dismissed for a clumsy tackle on Barcola in the first half.
Unsurprisingly, L’Equipe recognised Alisson as Liverpool’s best player on the night and handed the Brazilian a 9/10 for his stunning efforts.
Post-match, a relieved Alisson claimed it had been the best performance of his life, while still making time to praise the defensive effort of the team.
‘It was the best performance of my life I think,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘[Slot] was telling us how hard it would be and we had to be ready to suffer.
Alisson Becker was Liverpool’s hero and produces a string of top saves to deny the home side
Harvey Elliott came off the bench to score Liverpool’s winner with his first touch of the game
Liverpool boss Arne Slot conceded that the better team lost on Tuesday night before hailing the performance of his goalkeeper
‘You know what is coming with the clips but we work hard, we gave away so many chances.
‘Some 1v1s but the biggest part is having someone to make the player who is having the chance to think more so it makes my job easier. All the effort the team puts in, it is unbelievable.’
Slot conceded that PSG were the better team on the night and claimed that his side would have been fortunate to escape the Parc des Princes with a draw.
‘If we had a draw, we would have already been the lucky one,’ he said. ‘That is clear for everyone. I think they were the much better team today.
‘Especially in the first half they had a lot of chances, three or four big chances. In the second half, they were still the better team, still had a lot of shots on target but they were mainly from outside the box. I knew before the game, and I saw today again how much quality this team has, and all the individual players have.
‘All the shots from outside of the box you see with a certain speed which only comes from top players, that’s why Alisson still had to make some big saves. We were lucky that the goal was fractionally offside in the first half. I was very happy that in difficult circumstances over here the referee was not impressed. That’s not always the situation in away games. Already, in the game we had chances in transition, but we waited until the last moment, and we hurt them.’
The Reds will look to press home their advantage in the second leg at Anfield on Tuesday.
