Mohamed Salah broke down in tears on the Anfield pitch after Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night. The match was decided on penalties after the Reds had lost 1-0 on the night, with Ousmane Dembele scoring the only goal of the game after 12 minutes to level the tie on aggregate.
Salah stepped up with confidence to dispatch Liverpool’s first penalty in the shootout after Vitinha had held his nerve with the opening spot kick for PSG. But after Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones had been denied from 12 yards by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, PSG winger Desire Doue lashed home the winning kick.
There were heartbreaking scenes on the Anfield pitch after the contest as Reds players consoled each other. And Salah was seen wandering around the field with tears in his eyes.
The Egyptian forward sparkled in the early stages of the match and had two opportunities to double his side’s advantage on aggregate inside the opening five minutes as he found himself in good positions in front of goal. But he wasn’t able to break the deadlock as the visitors survived.
He was then kept quiet by PSG defender Nuno Mendes as the away team held firm at the back and caused problems at the other end of the pitch.
PSG will face either Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the quarter-finals and could come up against either Arsenal or Real Madrid in the semis should they progress through their next tie.
The French giants have never won the Champions League but did reach the final in 2020 under Thomas Tuchel before losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
“It was a very intense great game of football, I think to be part of it as well,” explained Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk after the match at Anfield.
“It was totally there for Liverpool and what we showed in Paris and unfortunately we’re out on penalties and that is the reality.
“I think in the first half we created dangerous moments and they have the quality as well, and then it comes down to penalties.
“It’s part of football. I said to the guys, ‘Obviously you can be disappointed because we’re out of the competition, but chin up and get ready for the next challenge, a beautiful one on the weekend [in the Carabao Cup final].’
“I think we were pretty good today as well, and you want to go as far as possible. But we knew when we drew PSG it was going to be very difficult. We saw in Paris when we struggled but we won – and today we saw a very good Liverpool side, but we’re out of the competition.”