Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool’s Champions League suffering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain is not yet over despite surviving an onslaught to win the first leg of their last 16 tie 1-0 in the French capital. The Reds were outclassed for almost the entire match at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday but clung on thanks to what goalkeeper Alisson Becker described as the performance “of his life”. Harvey Elliott came off the bench to score the winner with his first touch on 87 minutes. Liverpool had only two shots, compared with PSG’s 27 attempts at goal.
It was the Paris side’s first defeat in 23 games, a run stretching back to November.
Liverpool will expect to be much stronger for the second leg at Anfield on Tuesday, but Van Dijk warned the tie is not yet over.
“It should be a great game and we have to be ready to suffer as they are a very good team who were unbeaten for a very long time,” said the Liverpool captain.
“What I really liked was the togetherness, everyone put a shift in and we know everyone can be better.”
Liverpool boss Arne Slot conceded his side would have been lucky even to escape with a draw.
Van Dijk agreed the backs-to-the-wall display is not how the runaway Premier League leaders are used to winning but paid tribute to the “world-class” opposition they faced.
“We don’t want to be playing this way because everyone who plays football wants to have the ball a lot and wants to be dominating opponents,” he said.
“But we played against a team with a lot of quality, world-class quality, and they made it very difficult for everyone in the world so far and they made it difficult for us but we found a way and we have to try to finish it off next week.”
Slot’s substitutes made a telling contribution as Darwin Nunez set up the winner for Elliott, while Curtis Jones and Wataru Endo helped snuff out the PSG threat.
“We are coming to the last stages of the season and the message is pretty clear — everyone who is part of the team has to play a part when they come on,” said Van Dijk.
“With the goal you saw Darwin makes it difficult for Marquinhos and the ball falls and he gives a good pass to Harvey for the finish.
“Even Wataru coming on, Curtis doing a good job is good to see. Everyone needs to feel that importance because there are many big games — and decisive games — coming up so we have to keep going.”
Liverpool can extend their 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League when bottom-of-the-table Southampton visit Anfield on Saturday.
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