Paris Saint-Germain are through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-final at the expense of Liverpool, with Gianluigi Donnarumma saving two penalties while his teammates converted all their penalties at Anfield on Tuesday night.
Liverpool came into the match with a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Paris, but that advantage was quickly snuffed out when Ousmane Dembele bundled the ball home after 12 minutes to give PSG the lead on the night and pull the French league leaders level on aggregate.
PSG looked more likely to score for the rest of the half as their hosts struggled to keep up with PSG’s fast breaks, while Mo Salah was kept quiet by Nuno Mendes just like in the first leg last week.
Arne Slot’s men performed better in the second half and slowly started finding spaces to create chances, but it was Donnarumma’s turn to be the goalkeeper making crucial saves in this tie having seen Alisson frustrate PSG in the first leg.
The Italy international’s solid second half ensured the game went into extra time, where Liverpool edged control yet were unable to find the needed goal to book a spot in the Champions League last eight.
PSG looked the better side in the second period of extra time but also failed to get a goal as the match went to penalties with the scores tied at 1-1 on aggregate.
Achraf Hakimi won the toss for PSG to choose which end of Anfield the penalties will be taken – he chose the away end where 3,000 PSG fans were stood – and won the toss to pick the team to go first with the penalty kicks – choosing for his team to start.
PSG’s first penalty taker, Vitinha, showed nerves of steel to score his kick after a slow run-up followed by the softest kick of the ball which rolled just beyond the reach of Alisson and would end up summing how close Liverpool came to reaching the last eight.
That’s because Donnarumma saved Liverpool’s second and third penalties after Salah had scored the Reds’ first kick. Goncalo Ramos and Dembele scored for PSG, leaving Desire Doue to win it for the visitors with a well-struck penalty that left Anfield stunned to silence.
PSG go through and will likely face another English team – Aston Villa – in the quarter-final stage, in a clash that would see Villa boss, Unai Emery, reunited with his old team.
Villa lead 3-1 in their Champions League round of 16 match against Club Brugge, with the Belgians needing three or more goals at Villa Park on Wednesday night to upset the odds which are heavily stacked against them at the moment.