Kolkata: A night that saw a goalscoring record was followed by one where goalkeepers took the limelight in the Champions League round of 16. Alisson Becker and Wojciech Szczesny took the headlines in Liverpool and Barcelona’s escape to victory but Timon Wellenreuther’s penalty save for Feyenoord against Inter Milan and Anatoly Trubin’s triple save deserve mention even if they came in a losing cause.
Liverpool and Barcelona won the first leg 1-0 through goals from Harvey Elliott (87th) and Raphinha (61st) respectively, but it could so easily have been otherwise. “It was probably a bit more than we deserved,” said Arne Slot, the Liverpool manager.
Their careers once entwined at Roma, Alisson and Szczesny have gone different ways since. It was after Szczesny left Roma in 2016-17 that Alisson started to show goalkeeping is indeed in his blood. Alisson’s father and grandfather were shot-stoppers as was his brother who now plays in Brazil after a professional career in Europe.
Szczesny moved to Juventus where he stayed for seven years before announcing his retirement. Alisson joined Liverpool when Juergen Klopp broke his promise of never splurging and spent £164m on new signings including a then-record £67m on a goalkeeper. That it came in the immediate aftermath of goalkeeping errors in a Champions League final defeat may or may not have been a coincidence.
Under Klopp and now Slot, Liverpool have been so good that conversation about them tend to be restricted to outfield players. “I have had some very good players as manager but never the best goalkeeper in the world until now,” said Slot.
Wednesday’s heroics though did bring to the fore Alisson’s save against Napoli when he denied Arkadiusz Milik from close range. But that was a one-off in a December 2018 match Liverpool had dominated. At Parc des Princes, it was the opposite.
A rare weekend off because they are out of the FA Cup should have meant Liverpool, runaway Premier League leaders and who qualified for the knockout rounds as the best in Europe, reaching Paris brimming with brio. Instead, they looked second best in all areas of the pitch bar the goal.
Paris St-Germain (PSG) and midfield control are usually not part of the same sentence. That is because their focus till recently has been on signing star forwards, for free or in a world record fee. But the times are changing and Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha and Joao Nevez bossed the central area in and out of possession. That meant regular supply to Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, who was charged at by Ibrahima Konate in the 25th minute but the Liverpool defender was allowed to stay on the pitch, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
It also meant a busy night for Alisson, the busiest he has had since joining in 2018-19. His nine saves on the night are a Champions League record for Liverpool. It was also one more than Szczesny. PSG had 27 shots, 12 in the first half, two on target. Liverpool had two shots on target all night.
PSG have scored 21 goals in their last four matches. Luis Enrique had spoken of Liverpool’s frontline “fighter jets” without mentioning the firepower of his frontline. One pass from Barcola to Dembele had Virgil van Dijk running in the wrong direction. All this meant more work for Alisson.
Known as Kvaradona in an earlier life at Napoli, Kvaratskhelia did beat Alisson but VAR ruled it off-side. As he was when Neves shanked his shot from close.
But when Kvaratskhelia tried from range, Alisson forced a corner-kick. Desire Doue’s shot late in the match looked destined for goal till Alisson somehow reached it. When PSG tried from close, Kvaratskhelia once and Dembele at another time, Alisson made himself big. In the 83rd minute, he went low and got a right hand to deny Dembele. “It was probably the performance of my life,” said Alisson.
Szczesny was called into action 18 seconds after kick-off by Kerem Akturkoglu. Soon after, Turbin produced a triple save to deny Barcelona but after Pau Cubarsi’s 22nd minute red card, traffic was mostly towards his goal. Benfica had 15 shots. Szczesny produced a save off Orkun Kokcu and Fredrick Aursnes. Late in the match when Renato Sanches fired a cannonball, the Pole got his hands to it.
When the teams last met it had produced a 5-4 scoreline in favour of Barcelona but Szczesny was responsible for two goals and for clattering into a teammate. He should have been in retirement, it was then said of the 34-year-old. “Szczesny saves us many times today, he is outstanding,” Barcelona’s playmaker Pedri told Movistar Plus.