Arne Slot admits PSG will run riot if Liverpool let standards slip again

By Simon Peach, Press Association Chief Football Writer, Paris

Arne Slot ​knows Liverpool are in for a pummelling at Paris St Germain if their performance drops like it did in the humiliating FA Cup exit to Manchester City.

A difficult second season under the Dutchman hit a new low on Saturday lunchtime as the reigning Premier League champions collapsed either side of half-time in an embarrassing 4-0 last-eight loss.

Virgil van Dijk accused the team of giving up and apologised to fans after a defeat that has increased the pressure ahead of Liverpool’s challenging Champions League quarter-final first leg away to holders PSG.

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The Reds rode their luck at the Parc des Princes last term as they secured a 1-0 smash-and-grab last-16 first-leg win, but Slot knows a drop off akin to that seen at the Etihad Stadium will mean they are not so lucky in France this time.

“I can tell you, if we have the 20 minutes we had at City, if we have them tomorrow evening here, we will again concede four goals because these players over here know how to act if we are having 20 minutes like that,” the Liverpool manager said.

“It is a challenge for us to be from the first to the last second at the level we were at in the first 35 minutes (at City).

“If not, it’s going to be a really hard night again, like it was last year where we completely deserved to lose 4-0 over here or maybe more.

“But that’s the beauty of football. In the 85th minute we scored a goal and it was almost like this was a robbery.”

Alisson Becker’s inspired display between the sticks saved his side that night, but the goalkeeper is injured for Wednesday’s meeting, ahead of which Van Dijk’s eye-catching comments were put to Slot.

Former skipper Steven Gerrard called the current captain’s remarks “alarming”, adding these were “worrying times” for the Reds.

“I didn’t see players giving up in that part of the game,” Slot said when discussing the period when Liverpool trailed by four goals.

“But I think it’s also good from a captain that he has a strong and firm reaction after a game like that and hopefully it’s not only immediately after the game, but we can, as a team, show a strong and firm reaction tomorrow evening.”

Liverpool are boosted at PSG by the return of Alexander Isak to the fold after 15 weeks on the sidelines.

The 26-year-old has only managed 16 appearances since his £125million switch from Newcastle, having had to play catch up in terms of fitness and deal with some minor injuries before suffering a significant issue in December.

Isak was hurt in a tackle by Micky van de Ven when scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 win against Tottenham, leading to surgery on an ankle injury which included a fibula fracture.

The Sweden international is part of the 21-man squad in Paris and Slot said: “He’s finished close to a week of team training sessions now, so he can play a part otherwise I wouldn’t take him.

“I decided not to take him to the Etihad because we felt, and talked with the player, medical, performance staff, that he wasn’t able to get a performance out of him yet.

“Since he’s with us now, we do think that we can get a performance out of him now, but not to start.”