FOOTBALL – HOLDERS Paris St Germain were a cut above Liverpool as goals by Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia spurred them to an easy 2-0 home win in their Champions League quarter-final first leg last night.
Doue and Kvaratskhelia struck either side of halftime to give Luis Enrique’s side a solid advantage ahead of next week’s return at Anfield, where PSG booked their place in the last eight last season.
Doue opened the scoring with a deflected effort before Kvaratskhelia doubled the lead with a superb solo run and finish, but PSG wasted a handful of chances that would have further strengthened their push for the semi-finals.
Liverpool, thrashed 4-0 by Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals at the weekend, set up cautiously with three centre backs and Mohamed Salah on the bench, but struggled to contain a PSG side that mixed patient possession with bursts of attacking intensity.
Arne Slot opted for a back three with wings but the defence held for only 11 minutes at the Parc des Princes.
Doue picked up the ball on the left side of the box and his curled shot towards the opposite top corner took a slight deflection off Ryan Gravenberch and went out of Giorgi Mamardashvili’s reach.
Liverpool were hanging on for dear life, picking up two yellow cards in three minutes, and barely threatened.
As the visitors’ defence scrambled a clearance, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fired a half-volley that forced Mamardashvili to fully stretch. The keeper then denied Doue from point-blank range, preserving Liverpool’s deficit to a minimum.
Next, Ousmane Dembele missed a golden opportunity to double the advantage when he shot straight at the keeper at the end of a sharp transition.
Liverpool, who did not manage a single shot before the break, were fortunate to be only one goal behind.
Hugo Ekitike was the first to have a go but shot wide four minutes into the second half, shortly before Dembele missed the target again, skying his effort over the bar from inside the area. That was as close as the visitors got, failing to manage a single shot on target.
Liverpool did, however, look bolder after the interval, but limited compared to PSG, who played keep-ball and tormented them with brutal changes of pace.
One of them came in the 65th minute when Joao Neves played in a racing Kvaratskhelia and the Georgian danced his way through the area, rounded Mamardashvili and slotted the ball home.
Dembele’s angled shot crashed onto the post and Nuno Mendes fluffed a golden chance in the final minutes as Liverpool preserved a slim hope of overturning the deficit next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid took a firm grip on their quarter-final as goals from Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth earned a 2-0 first-leg victory over 10-man Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona dominated proceedings, but Atletico’s rock-solid defence combined with swift counter-attacks paid off after Pau Cubarsi was sent off for hauling down Giuliano Simeone in the 42nd minute as the last man.
Alvarez brilliantly curled the resulting free kick from 25 metres into the top corner in first-half stoppage time to silence the sold-out Catalan stadium.
Marcus Rashford struck the crossbar from a free kick soon after halftime but Diego Simeone’s side remained disciplined and doubled their lead in the 70th minute when Matteo Ruggeri crossed from the left and Sorloth volleyed in from close range, sealing a decisive away win that left Barca with a mountain to climb.
The winners of the two-legged tie will face either Arsenal or Sporting in the last four.
“We’re delighted with the win, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. The semi-final is still a long way off. We need to stay calm and confident, but keep our feet on the ground,” Antoine Griezmann told Movistar Plus.
“We tried, but it wasn’t to be,” Barca defender Ronald Araujo told Movistar Plus.
“We came out stronger in the second half despite being a man down; we had possession but couldn’t find the net. We’re disappointed with the defeat, but I think we can turn it around.”
&uuid=(email))