Paul Merson has sounded a warning note for Liverpool ahead of their Champions League clash away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
The Reds resume their European campaign with a round-of-16 tie against the French giants, who like Arne Slot’s side have a 13-point lead at the top of their domestic league going into the first leg, which Mamadou Sakho has found too tough to call.
The teams traded home wins when they last met in this tournament six seasons ago, when Jurgen Klopp’s LFC began their road to eventual glory in Madrid with a 3-2 victory over PSG, who got revenge with a 2-1 triumph on their own patch later in the group stage.
Merson: Liverpool can’t afford to lose in Paris
In his latest column for Sky Sports, Merson claimed that Liverpool can’t afford to lose the first leg at the Parc des Princes and warned that Luis Enrique’s side are riding the crest of a wave, although he suggested that the Reds would hold the upper hand if they were to get a result on Wednesday.
The pundit wrote: “I don’t see Liverpool winning at Paris Saint-Germain – they have to come back with at least a draw. This is a game where either one of these two teams could finish the tie in 45 minutes if the other one has an off day. That’s why this is a good cup tie. Both sides can absolutely rip you apart.
“We saw that with PSG in the Man City game, with four goals in the second half, and we’ve seen Liverpool destroy teams. I don’t think there’ll be a lot in this.
“PSG are a team now. They haven’t got loads of superstars anymore. They’ve gone in a different direction and it’s worked. With all those players they used to have, they never looked like winning the Champions League.
“PSG can’t afford to lose the first leg because the second leg, with the atmosphere at Anfield, is a different game.”
PSG will be tough, but Liverpool have no reason to be fearful
Given the excellent form of the two teams domestically, both have every reason to feel confident ahead of the round-of-16 tie over the next eight days.
As Merson points out, PSG have actually looked stronger this season since deviating from their glitz-and-glamour transfer policy of recent years, hitherto shaking off the departue of Kylian Mbappe with ease.
Their 4-2 win over Manchester City in January illustrated just how lethal they can be when at their best, but they found themselves 2-0 down in the same match, and we can’t imagine Liverpool being as careless at Pep Guardiola’s side if they were to find themselves in a similar position on Wednesday.
The Parisian outfit are on an imperious run of 10 successive wins coming into this game, although none of those have been against a team of the Reds’ quality, and Slot’s men have no reason to fear their next opponents. We’ve also had the refresher of a weekend off due to our previous elimination from the FA Cup.
A draw would give us a strong platform to go on and finish the job at Anfield next Tuesday, but LFC are good enough to go to the Parc des Princes and win, should they be as ruthless in both penalty boxes as they were against Man City and Newcastle last week.
