PSG are as sloppy as they are talented
It has become a running theme of the Champions League in recent years to see how PSG, a team of stars built with the virtually limitless resources of a sovereign state, will manage to torpedo their own chances of European glory. On the evidence of Tuesday at Anfield, they will continue to find new ways to disappoint.
The French champions do not pass or press like a coherent unit. They certainly don’t look like a Thomas Tuchel side, and it’s tempting to wonder whether any tactical ideologue will ever be able to impose his vision on a group of such illustrious and headstrong individuals.
Marco Verratti’s return from suspension will bring some sense back to the PSG midfield, but the dream attacking trident of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani seem only occasionally aware of each other’s existence.
PSG have never made it beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League and, if their growing list of defeats should have taught them anything, it’s that talent alone is not enough.
Sturridge is still a footballer – and a good one
Amid all the pre-match talk about Firmino’s readiness for this game, it was easy to forget that Liverpool have another excellent striker – one who scored 21 Premier League goals only four years ago and who, at 29, should be at the peak of his powers.
Injuries have taken away what might have been of Sturridge’s career and he is a less than ideal fit for Klopp’s gegenpressing system, but he remains a finisher of the highest quality when fit and confident. He is even better when given several yards of space to work with in the penalty area, as Thiago Silva afforded him when caught under the flight of Andy Robertson’s cross.
It was nice to see Sturridge remind everyone of the talent he still has on what was, incredibly, the first Champions League start of his career, even if Firmino subsequently showed why he will rightly remain the undisputed first-choice focal point for Klopp’s dynamic attack.
Neymar is no closer to his Ballon d’Or dream
If you ignore the mind-boggling sums of money involved, Neymar left Barcelona for PSG in the summer of 2017 to escape the legendary shadow of Lionel Messi and finally stake his own claim to be considered the best player in the world.
His statistics in Ligue 1 have been predictably outrageous – 23 goals and 14 assists in 24 appearances – but he has regressed as a match-winner at the elite level. At Anfield he floated stylishly but superfluously on the periphery of the game, one shot fired straight at Alisson his only significant contribution to an occasion that should have been his stage.
Such displays have become worryingly common for Neymar since joining PSG. His individualism was less of a problem at Barcelona, probably because Messi and Luis Suarez played for each other as well as themselves.
Neymar’s outrageous talent only makes his current drift all the more galling. He will never win the Ballon d’Or if he is never the best player in any game that matters.