It will be of little consolation to Arne Slot and Liverpool that, for the second season in succession, they went toe-to-toe with Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield and had nothing to show for their endeavours. Having exited the FA Cup quarter-final with a whimper, Liverpool exited the Champions League quarter-final with a fight. The damage done in Paris proved irretrievable.
Ousmane Dembélé, so wasteful in the first leg at Parc des Princes, put the quarter-final beyond any doubt with a clinical late finish to ensure there would be no famous European comeback from Liverpool on this occasion. Slot’s team at least performed with belief, and for 72 minutes they had hope, but the European champions held their nerve to advance into the semi-finals. Dembélé inflicted further punishment with a second goal in stoppage time.
There was a period of silence before kick-off as Liverpool remembered the 97 fans who were unlawfully killed at Hillsborough on the eve of the 37th anniversary of the disaster. It was observed impeccably until being broke, unbelievably, by a shout for Liverpool. Black armbands were worn by both teams and Slot used his programme notes to question why a Hillsborough Law has still not been introduced, almost two years into a Labour government that promised one before it was elected. “The best way for the country to honour them after all this time would be to introduce the law that the Hillsborough families and fellow campaigners are asking for,” he wrote.
