Liverpool vs PSG LIVE: Champions League latest score and goal updates from blockbuster second leg at Anfield

The increasing use of statistics and data in football has proven controversial in recent years, but sometimes the numbers simply do not lie. But make up your own mind how much stock you are putting into this one…

Andy Robertson today turns 31, and celebrates the moment with a Champions League start at Anfield. All well and good. Right?

Maybe not. Robertson has twice appeared for Liverpool, and has never won. The last two appearances came against Atletico Madrid in 2020 (2-3) and Bournemouth in 2023 (0-1).

If there was ever a night to buck the trend, it should be today.

So reads the hand-drawn cover of tonight’s match programme.

Prominently featured is a wall displaying photos of those French Liverpool players, including Ibrahima Konate, Mamadou Sakho, and Djibril Cisse, all alongside a glimmering Champions League trophy, which, incidentally, PSG have never won.

All situated in a Louvre-like gallery, the piece is packed full of pointed references to Liverpool’s record over French sides – not likely to be a souvenir the away support will treasure.

Georgia’s finest sporting export, nicknamed Kvaradonna, has not quite hit the ground running since moving to PSG in January. He has made seven league appearances since completing the €80 million transfer, scoring just once, but has had more success in European competition.

Kvaratskhelia already has one goal and one assist in three Champions League appearances, outstripping his league tally in half the game time.

Four shots on target were not enough for him to produce a goal in the reverse fixture, and the chances he created all came to nought.

He will need to be on top form tonight if PSG are to turn this tie around.

Arne Slot suggests his Liverpool side may again rely on the same long-ball strategy which helped them win last week.

Liverpool were pinned back for long stretches in the first leg, resorting to route one passing as they struggled to play out. That is eventually how Harvey Elliott scored.

Here’s what Slot had to say about it: “If you play ten long balls, probably won’t be ten times you end up in front of the goalkeeper but that one time it changes the game.”

He was also asked whether Cody Gakpo was close to starting, saying: “Not close at all, he only played yesterday. It was the first time he trained in nearly three weeks. The players know you cannot train once after three or four weeks out and go to the intensity levels of a game like this.”

Bad news for PSG – Harvey Elliott is back on the bench for Liverpool. Will he come back to haunt the French contingent with another late goal?

Here are the substitutes in full:

Liverpool: Jaros, Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Chiesa, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, McConnell, Quansah

PSG: Safonov, Tenas, Kimpembe, Ramos, Doue, Lee, Hernandez, Mayulu, Zaire-Emery, Beraldo, Mbaye

Tonight will be just the sixth meeting between Liverpool and PSG, and the scores are remarkably even.

Liverpool boast three wins in the tie, PSG have two. Both sides have scored seven goals against one another.

Most notably, though, PSG have never won at Anfield in two attempts, losing 2-0 in the 1996/97 Cup Winners Cup and 3-2 in the 2018/19 group stages.

Will that record change tonight? All will be revealed…

The reverse fixture at the Parc de Princes was a comic affair which will live long in the memory.

PSG dominated the match, something made clear both in the stats and in the viewing, but, fatally, failed to score.

At full time, the hosts boasted 71% possession, 27 shots to Liverpool’s 2, and 693 passes to the visitors’ 295.

Only one number truly matters, though: the scoreline. And that read 0-1 to Liverpool thanks to Harvey Elliot’s 87th minute smash-and-grab winner.

The Reds laughed all the way back to Merseyside, but PSG will arrive at Anfield with a point to prove and a grudge to hold.

Both Luis Enrique and Arne Slot seem to recognize just how tight this tie will be, naming full-strength squads. Here’s how both teams line up:

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Jota, Diaz

PSG XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Vitinha, Ruiz, Neves; Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Barcola

Everything is to play for tonight, as Liverpool carry a slim one-goal advantage in the aggregate scoreline. But where does the winner head next?

Opposite PSG and Liverpool on the bracket are Aston Villa and Club Brugges, who play their own second leg tomorrow night in Birmingham.

Villa currently lead the tie 3-1, meaning an all-Premier League tie in the quarter-finals is narrowly the most likely outcome.

PSG’s 22-man travelling squad for tonight’s fixture on Merseyside is identical to that which they named for the reverse leg.

They did, however, rotate heavily for last weekend’s Ligue 1 match against Rennes, a 1-4 away win. The players rested include Achraf Hakimi, Ousmane Dembélé, and Kvicha Kvaratshkelia.

Soeaking pre-match, PSG manager Luis Enrique hinted he would not be likely to gamble: “I don’t think that Arne Slot has much doubt about our starting XI for tomorrow.”