Liverpool boss Arne Slot heaped praise on his goalkeeper Alisson Becker and disagreed with Rio Ferdinand’s assessment after his heroic performance in the 1-0 win against PSG in the Champions League. The Dutchman couldn’t hide his delight after Harvey Elliott’s late goal secured a smash-and-grab victory at Parc des Princes against the French champions, who had 29 shots on goal and 10 on target but still failed to score. But they had Alisson to thank as he produced a memorable display in the Liverpool goal.
The Reds weathered the storm in the second half and faced a similar barrage in the second half. Fortunately, Alisson was in inspired form to deny the likes of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola on numerous occasions. It was no exaggeration to suggest the hosts should have been 4-0 up at the break, but the reflexes of the Reds stopper proved to be crucial. After watching the 32-year-old put in a flawless performance, Slot beamed about the Brazilian and hailed him as the best in the world in his position.
“I don’t think there is a goalkeeper that played at this level, which is normal because he’s the best in the world,” Slot told TNT Sports. “I have some very good players as a manager, but never had the best goalkeeper in the world. And that I think he is, he showed that today. I didn’t think once or twice that we would defend so much and we would come away with a 1-0 win, or 2 or 3-0. The goal and a win over here was a bit more than we deserve.”
When TNT Sports presenter Reshmin Chowdhury put to Slot that pundit Rio Ferdinand had only given Alisson a ‘9/10’ for his performance, Slot interrupted and jokingly said: “Nine out of 10?”
However, the Dutchman laughed it off and added: “I do agree with you, he was outstanding. And I also saw the fact, correct me if I’m wrong, most shots were outside of the box. But it’s their quality that they can hit it like that.”
Slot was also full of praise for PSG and the 46-year-old admitted he knew the French giants would pose a danger after mentioning how the ‘underlying numbers’ proved they were the best team in the Champions League.
“I think there were a lot of similarities between our game against Man City, where we faced a team that is so, so good in ball possession and have some great wingers as well who dominated the one v one situations as well,” he added. “We knew, I already knew, we would not dominate possession over here.
“They [PSG] take risks in the one v one all over the pitch and that’s the only thing I can blame my players where we would three, four, five, six times play through them and it was completely open. But maybe it was to do with being tired. Sometimes the last touch needs to be better, but that’s normal when you defend so much.”
Slot and Liverpool will now turn their focus to Saturday’s clash against Southampton at Anfield before welcoming PSG to Merseyside three days later for the second leg, with a slender 1-0 advantage in their favour.
