Arne Slot says Trent Alexander-Arnold “defended really well” against Paris Saint-Germain, claiming sometimes the “stats don’t tell the truth” as the Liverpool star recovered from “difficulties”.
Alisson was the hero for Reds as he pulled off a number of miraculous saves to keep Slot’s side in the game before a smash-and-grab goal from late substitute Harvey Elliott ensured they will take a one-goal lead back to Anfield for the second leg.
PSG dominated the game, with the front three of Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia causing the defenders huge problems in the first in particular.
Alexander-Arnold, whose defensive ability has frequently been questioned, was beaten a couple of times on Liverpool’s right, but Rio Ferdinand was impressed by what he saw from the England international.
Ferdinand said on TNT Sports: “I tell you one thing, Trent Alexander-Arnold has been questioned a lot defensively, especially in one-v-one situations, but he’s stood up to every single test so far.”
Kvaratskhelia had a goal ruled out for offside and forced a couple of brilliant saves from Alisson, but his impact dwindled in the second half and when informed of Ferdinand’s thoughts on Alexander-Arnold’s defending against the PSG’s forwards, Slot joined in hailing his performance.
“I see the same thing during the season many more times,” said the Liverpool head coachwhen asked about Alexander-Arnold.
“There have been games – I think City away was one of them – where he was outplayed a few times but we didn’t concede that many big chances against City, so sometimes stats are not telling you the truth.”
“If he goes past someone in the width of the pitch, it doesn’t tell you that he’s outplayed,” added Slot. “The stats that do matter, I just already said a few times, are clear that Paris Saint-Germain are this season incredible in Europe and in their league.
“Trent, in the first half, one or two times had some difficulties but in general he defended really well, especially also in the second half.”
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Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and and Mohamed Salah had a very limited impact on the game compared to their PSG counterparts and Slot is well aware that the job isn’t done despite their slender lead owing to the quality of Luis Enrique’s side.
“They showed today – and I already knew it but the players saw it today as well, and our fans and all of England – that Luis Enrique made an incredible team here after three [transfer] windows,” he added.
“So much pace, so much work-rate, so much quality in the midfield, how they handle the ball. So, it was an unbelievable challenge for us to get away here with a result and we know it’s going to be a hard one in a week.”
