Pressure is building on manager Arne Slot after Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League with consummate ease by title holders Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday (AEST).
Megastar Ousmane Dembele scored a second half double for Luis Enrique’s imperious visitors, who scored a 2-0 win on the night and a 4-0 aggregate quarter-final cruise.
Heavy rain added to the gloom around Anfield, where fans have watched the defending Premier League champions slump to fifth on the ladder this season.
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Attention now turns to whether Liverpool are able to hold or better that position and qualify for the next Champions League.
The top five Premier League teams qualify for Europe’s top competition.
Dembele’s first goal killed off Liverpool’s fight as they went in search of another famous Champions League comeback.
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The Ballon d’Or winner swept a low left-footed shot from the edge of the area past goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili to quieten the home crowd and ease PSG tension.
His second came at the end of a sweeping move in added time.
PSG are aiming to become only the second club to successfully defend the trophy in the Champions League era after Real Madrid won a hat trick of titles between 2016-18.
PSG will play the winner of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Anfield is famed for its white-hot atmosphere, especially on European nights, and the PSG team bus was greeted by red flares as it approached the ground.
But inside, the French fans more than held their own – singing loudly in the away section as the home crowd seemed strangely subdued at times.
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It was only in the second half that the Liverpool fans appeared to believe a comeback was possible – especially when referee Maurizio Mariani pointed to the spot for a foul by Willian Pacho on Alexis Mac Allister shortly after the hour.
With the score at 0-0, this was the chance to apply the pressure.
But celebrations soon turned to disappointment when the penalty was overturned after review.
“If you look at our season I am completely not surprised because so many decisions have gone against us,” Slot said.
“For me it is quite simple, if the referee did not give a penalty the VAR would never have intervened. As I said I don’t think it is a surprise this season, not just the Champions League but also in the Premier League many decisions have gone against us.”
Dembele’s opener came in the 72nd minute – taking his time to pick his spot before firing home.
With the tie effectively over, it was the PSG fans who could be heard singing loudest and they were given more to cheer when Dembele struck again. Slot had some more interesting comments afterwards.
“In my opinion we should won but it’s also the quality of them that they don’t concede with all the chances we had, and the finishes of Ousmane Dembele, who showed why he won the Ballon d’Or,” Slot said.
“It was incredible. Even after we went 1-0 down. If you look at the xG (expected goals metric), we should have scored two, let alone one, and that’s happened too many times this season.”
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In Spain, Atletico Madrid held on to dump another giant – Barcelona – out at the quarter-final stage.
Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres scored to give Barcelona a 2-1 second leg win but Atletico advanced 3-2 on aggregate in a fierce contest.
Barcelona defender Eric Garcia was controversially sent off in the second half and was spotted throwing his shirt as he walked from the field.
The Catalan club played a man down from the 79th minute after Garcia was shown a red card for fouling Alexander Sorloth to stop a breakaway.
Barcelona scored twice in the first 24 minutes to level the tie but Atletico struck back in the first half through Ademola Lookman with what proved to be the decisive goal.
Atletico will face either Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon in the semi-finals.
The game was stopped for several moments at the 70th minute because Atletico defender Matteo Ruggieri sustained a cut on his forehead after being elbowed by Barcelona midfielder Gavi during a dispute for the ball.
Yamal opened the scoring four minutes into the match at the Metropolitano, entering the area free from defenders after Atletico lost possession on a passing mistake by defender Clement Lenglet.
With his goal, Yamal became the top Champions League scorer under the age of 19 with 11, one more than Kylian Mbappe.
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The visitors added to the lead with Torres picking up a through ball by Dani Olmo and finding the top corner by the far post.
The hosts struck back in the 31st minute with Lookman scoring from inside the area in a breakaway after a low cross by Marcos Llorente.
