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Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and his successor Arne Slot(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Events on the pitch in Paris were very much overshadowed by matters off the field the last time Liverpool were in the city.

But memories of that evening will remain fresh in the minds of those Reds players involved.

The hugely-deflating 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final of 2022 in retrospect marked not only the beginning of the end of Jurgen Klopp’s first great team, but also the start of a temporary hiatus on Liverpool as genuine European challengers having the following season been battered by the Bernabeu side before failing to qualify for the competition altogether.

Now the rebuilt squad bequeathed by Klopp to his successor Arne Slot will aim to underline their return to Europe’s top table when back in the French capital to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the round of last 16 first leg.

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“It could be a Champions League final,” observed PSG boss Luis Enrique at the weekend.

And while not the only blockbusting clash in the first knockout round, there is a sense coming up against one of Europe’s most in-form heavyweights isn’t perhaps the reward Liverpool merited for dominating the new-look league stage of the competition.

Winning the Champions League, though, isn’t meant to be easy.

Now Slot’s side face arguably the biggest test yet of their desire to restore the Reds as a European force.

Rather than the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, which hosted the Champions League final three years, tonight’s game is at the Parc des Princes in the Ile-de-France region of the city.

Only a few thousand Liverpool supporters are expected to travel - a significant number of fans have vowed not to return to Paris after the chaos and controversy before, during and after the final in 2022 - and local authorities are confident the security measures in place will ensure the game passes without major incident.

Those looking for portents this evening will note that while Liverpool were beaten 2-1 on their most recent visit to the Parc des Princes in 2018, they went on to lift the Champions League that season.

But it says much about how PSG have moved away from their “galactiques” approach that while Liverpool still boast six players who were in their matchday squad that night, the French side have only two - Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe, the latter having featured for only 55 minutes this season.

Enrique’s side, runaway leaders in Ligue Un and into the French Cup semi-final, are unbeaten in domestic competition.

However, they struggled at the start of the Champions League and needed wins over a fading Manchester City and struggling Stuttgart to reach the play-off where compatriots Brest, who PSG had comfortably beaten twice in the league, were thumped 10-0 on aggregate.

And Liverpool will note the other quality opponents PSG have faced this season - Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid - all defeated the French side.

We have to see if they are on top of us tomorrow and we have to suffer like we did against Manchester City, or if we can play like we did in all the other games we have had this season."

Doubts over the fitness of Cody Gakpo - the forward travelled to France despite missing the open training session earlier in the day - could prompt Slot to go without a main striker and replicate the box midfield that was so successful at the Etihad 10 days ago.

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Otherwise, should Gakpo be unavailable, Luis Diaz will continue down the left flank and the Liverpool boss will have to choose between Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez to lead the line while Andy Robertson is expected to come in for Kostas Tsimikas at left-back.


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