Liverpool stuns PSG with a smash-and-grab win.

Liverpool defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 match thanks to a late goal from Harvey Elliott 47 seconds after entering the game.

 Ibrahima Konate was lucky not to be sent off, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's incredible goal was disallowed for offside, but the Premier League leaders stole the show when Elliott slipped home in the 87th minute. Arne Slot's team had to deal with 27 of the game's 29 efforts.

Although Liverpool has won a number of big games under Slot this season, it seems likely that they will value this even more.  Although PSG will undoubtedly feel that they squandered their opportunity in Paris, they displayed enough on Tuesday to pose a threat back at Anfield.

Liverpool has a strong argument for being the strongest team in Europe at the moment, given they lead the Premier League by 13 points and won the league phase in this new Champions League system.  Slot countered, "You can't say this until we've won it."

 With ten straight victories going into this match, PSG appeared to agree, dominating Liverpool and creating numerous opportunities in the first half.  To reach the break-even point, they needed Alisson to play at his peak and a few close VAR decisions to go their way.

After Kvaratskhelia was acquired during the transfer window, Slot claimed that PSG had "three fighter jets" in attack. Luis Enrique had since watched his team win every game in which his front three began before this match.

 Given the performances by Ousmane Dembele and the Georgian, it was clear why.  Kvaratskhelia curled the ball superbly into the corner, but it was just offside.  Konate then obviously shoved Bradley Barcola, but the officials somehow missed it.

Despite their losses this season, Liverpool has never had to withstand such a barrage; Alisson made a save against Dembele.  Barcola obstructed Dominik Szoboszlai.  Joao Neves also came very close.  Slot acknowledged that he would have loved to play Benfica, which is understandable.

 Late in the game, substitute Desire Doue made the best save of the game as Alisson dove to his left to save the ball from going straight into the far corner.  When Elliott, who was brought on as a replacement for the reserved Mohamed Salah, had his time, those bravery moments proved to be pivotal.

Who else but Alisson initiated the action when he went long to Darwin Nunez? The striker did a fantastic job of holding the ball up and displaying poise by spreading it widely into Elliott's path.  It was Gianluigi Donnarumma's responsibility to do better.  Liverpool won't give a damn.

Slot: It would have been fortunate even to draw!

Arne Slot, the head coach of Liverpool, said during the press conference:

 "We would still have been the fortunate ones if we had a draw.  Today, they were a far superior team.  They had numerous opportunities during the first half.  They continued to be the superior team in the second half.

 "They had three or four open chances in the first half, including one-on-ones and a cutback that narrowly missed the goal.  It was quite miraculous that the score was 0-0 in the first half after Dembele went one-on-one and the ball returned, creating two or three consecutive chances."

The Elliott for Salah transfer is successful.

 Elliott's moment was well-earned.  Shutting down Salah was the hardest mission in football, but Nuno Mendes performed it brilliantly.  Done?  Not exactly.  The substitution brutally chastised Mendes for not following Elliott's run.

 In order to finish the game with a more defensive attitude than Salah, the PSG left-back would have believed that Elliott had been sent in as a negative ploy.  Instead, Elliott leaped forward quickly after Nunez managed to hold the ball up.

Mendes was aware.  As the ball slipped past Donnarumma and into the far corner, he became so frustrated that he put his hands to his head.  It served as a reminder that even though this Liverpool squad has superstars, no defence can afford to ignore their backups.