Ousmane Dembélé’s brilliant double strike helped Paris Saint-Germain cruise into the UEFA Champions League semi-finals after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Tuesday night, completing a dominant 4-0 aggregate win for the defending champions.
The result dealt another heavy blow to Liverpool’s European hopes this season. To make matters worse for the English side, their striker Hugo Ekitiké suffered a serious injury that could sideline him for the rest of the campaign and potentially affect his chances of making France’s squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool currently sit fifth in the Premier League table and are on course to finish the season without any silverware. They were unable to break down a well-organized PSG side that advanced to the semi-finals for the third consecutive season without needing to play at their absolute best.
The defeat also means there will be no fairytale European farewell for Mohamed Salah after nine incredible years at Anfield.
Slot showed little sentimentality by leaving the Egyptian star on the bench for what was expected to be his final Champions League appearance in a Liverpool shirt. Instead, he handed a rare start to Alexander Isak, the club’s record signing, who was making his first appearance since recovering from a broken leg suffered in December.
However, Salah was forced to enter the game earlier than planned after just 30 minutes when Ekitiké went down in agony, clutching his lower right leg. The former PSG forward appeared to have suffered a serious Achilles injury.
Salah almost made an instant impact from the bench, delivering a dangerous cross that Matvey Safonov had to save smartly from Milos Kerkez. Moments later, Marquinhos produced a heroic block to deny Virgil van Dijk what looked like a certain opening goal.
PSG had wasted several good opportunities in the first leg at the Parc des Princes, and they continued to be wasteful in the first half at Anfield. Giorgi Mamardashvili had to scramble back to punch away a clever chip from Dembélé, who then blazed over from close range when he had only the goalkeeper to beat.
Slot had admitted before the match that Isak was only fit enough to play around 45 minutes due to his long absence. The Swedish striker was duly substituted at half-time for Cody Gakpo, further weakening Liverpool’s attacking options.
Dembélé Delivers the Knockout Blow
Kerkez came closest for Liverpool when he sliced wide from another inviting Salah cross, but as the home side pushed forward desperately in search of a comeback, they left themselves wide open to PSG’s lightning-fast counter-attacks.
Dembélé finally put the tie beyond doubt 18 minutes from time, cutting inside onto his left foot and curling a beautiful shot into the bottom corner from outside the penalty area.
The French winger then added the finishing touch deep into stoppage time, calmly slotting home from Bradley Barcola’s low cross to make it 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.
PSG now advance to the semi-finals where they will face a much tougher challenge against either in-form Bayern Munich or 15-time champions Real Madrid.
After finally ending their long wait to win the Champions League last season under Luis Enrique, the Qatari-backed French giants remain on course to achieve something very special — becoming only the second team in the modern Champions League era to successfully defend their title.
This article was published by Headline Hub.
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