Arne Slot hasn’t messed around with his Liverpool team selection, as he hopes the Reds can pull off another memorable comeback in the Champions League at Anfield, against Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain, to progress into the semi-final.
Indeed, all eyes are on Merseyside this evening in Europe’s elite competition, with PSG holding a two-goal advantage, entering into tonight’s contest at Liverpool’s famous home ground.
This will be a tricky deficit for Slot’s side to overturn, but they will be praying there’s some Anfield magic in the air again, with the Reds having to climb far tougher mountains in this competition in the past.
The Dutchman will be hoping that his bold team selection decisions pay off against the visitors from Paris, with a change in formation instantly catching the eye, among other personnel alterations.
Confirmed Liverpool XI vs PSG
As was expected, Giorgi Mamardashvili retains his place in goal for the clash with Enrique’s reigning champions, with Alisson still not fit enough to be available for selection.
In front of the stand-in keeper, Jeremie Frimpong, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, and Milos Kerkez make up the rest of the backline, with Andy Robertson dropping out of the main XI in Slot’s first change for tonight’s crunch tie with PSG.
The second alteration comes in the holding midfield positions as Alexis Mac Allister comes back into the first team fold, next to his trusty partner in Ryan Gravenberch. Thankfully, Curtis Jones is fit enough for a spot amongst the substitutes after coming down with what looked like a nasty groin issue versus Fulham.
It’s in attack where Slot has seriously tinkered, with a likely 4-2-2-2 formation seeing Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai take on the most advanced midfield spots in the lineup, with the Dutchman hopeful that Wirtz can begin to live up to his “special” billing with an impactful display against the Ligue 1 giants.
Amazingly, Alexander Isak has been given the nod to lead the line tonight alongside ex-PSG marksman Hugo Ekitike, with the Swede starting his first match for the Reds since the start of December, when Liverpool won 1-0 away at Inter Milan in the Champions League.
Off the back of this bold switch, Mohamed Salah will have to make do with a spot on the bench again, with Rio Nguhoma and Cody Gakpo also dropping out of the main team fold.
Nguhoma will no doubt be utilised at some point, though, especially if the Parisian titans are beginning to tire, after he bagged an electric strike against Fulham on the weekend.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Isak, Ekitike
Substitutes: Woodman, Misciur, Gomez, Nallo, Robertson, Jones, Nyoni, Salah, Gakpo, Ngumoha, Chiesa
PSG: Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Zaire-Emery; Dembele, Kvaratskhelia, Doue
Substitutes: Chevalier, Marin, Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Hernandez, Mayulu, Lee, Barcola, Mbaye, Fernandez, Ramos
Liverpool vs PSG prediction
Slot has certainly gone outside the box with his team selection this evening, with the lineup a very attacking one.
At the end of the day, Liverpool do need to go full throttle from minute one tonight to pull off an earth-shuddering upset.
Enrique has opted against starting Bradley Barcola tonight, but the Reds’ defence will know they need to be switched on all night to preserve a clean sheet to ensure a comeback is possible.
Liverpool will need a fast start, and I can see them scoring, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to secure progression through to the semi-final stages.
Score prediction: Liverpool 2-1 PSG
