Alexis Mac Allister has opened up on Liverpool’s troubling 2025/26 season, when speaking to post-match media, after the Reds were dumped out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stages to Paris St-Germain.
Liverpool fans filing into Anfield on Tuesday evening would have been hopeful that their side could pull off another magical comeback in the Champions League, but it wasn’t to be.
In the end, despite Arne Slot‘s men putting in a valiant effort, PSG’s overwhelming class would shine through, again, in the second leg, as Ousmane Dembele would score a second-half brace to hand the Ligue 1 giants a comprehensive 4-0 victory on aggregate.
Just seconds before the pendulum swung violently in PSG’s direction, the Reds were convinced they had found their lifeline. Alexis Mac Allister, the beating heart of the PSG midfield, appeared to have earned the hosts a priceless route back into the tie.
Referee Maurizio Mariani initially pointed to the spot, a decision that would have halved the aggregate deficit to 2-1 and whipped the Kop into a frenzy. It was a golden opportunity to alter the night’s trajectory but the whistle came, and the reprieve was short-lived.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, though, the initial decision by the referee, who thought Willian Pacho had clattered into the Argentine, was overturned, leading to PSG then sealing the contest.
Slot would be angered by this decision at the full-time whistle, stating that “there is contact” when viewing back over the incident.
The man at the heart of the incident, Mac Allister, would also speak to the media post-match, but he was far calmer and more collected when assessing where everything had gone wrong for the reigning Premier League champions this season.
Mac Allister’s thoughts on Liverpool’s “difficult” season
Off the back of being trounced by PSG over two legs, Liverpool will remain trophyless this campaign.
Knocked out of the FA Cup in humiliating fashion by Manchester City, alongside offering very little in domestic action with their limp title defence, with ten Premier League defeats next to their name, it has been a horror show of a season for Slot and Co.
Mac Allister was rather reflective with his musings on how the wheels have fallen off at Anfield when speaking to Portuguese outlet O Jogo, after the second leg defeat.
He said: “It was a different game in the return leg, we were more aggressive, we tried to press, we had our opportunities, but we played against the best team in the world. The result is what it is, and we have to congratulate the opponent.
“It’s obvious that it was a difficult and challenging season. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season what I expected, I would have said this team was going to fight and win competitions, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
“We have to keep working, because this year doesn’t do justice to the club. Of course, we remember Diogo Jota, and it was a complicated period, but we can’t use him as an excuse.
“I don’t believe that’s why this year was so complicated for us.”
Not wanting to make any excuses at the full-time whistle, the World Cup winner came across as extremely honest with his thoughts on the underwhelming season transpiring.
Liverpool fans everywhere will just be hoping there’s no hangover from this Champions League exit when they make the extremely short trip to Everton on Sunday, in a Merseyside Derby that feels like a must-win for Slot’s men.
There might be no silverware on the line anymore, as Mac Allister mentioned, but the Reds’ pride is always at stake when they face their arch rivals, with a win against the Toffees the perfect way to address their wounds after the sobering losses to PSG.
