French Media Critical of Liverpool Despite PSG Victory
Liverpool’s 1-0 “smash-and-grab” victory over Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday has been dubbed “English Robbery” by the French media, who have sharply criticized the Premier League leaders. Harvey Elliott’s late goal, just 47 seconds after coming on to replace Mohamed Salah, gave the Reds a vital win in the French capital ahead of the return leg at Anfield.
Despite only managing two shots on target compared to PSG’s 27, Liverpool held on thanks to an extraordinary performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who was described as having produced the “performance of his life” to keep a clean sheet. With Liverpool now holding the crucial advantage, the French press was quick to express their outrage.
L’Equipe’s headline summed up the general sentiment, calling it “Braquage A L’Anglaise,” which translates to “an English robbery.” The outlet’s report, as translated by the Daily Mail, made no secret of Alisson’s key role, stating: “With a normal goalkeeper, Luis Enrique’s team would certainly have won by several goals.”
RMC Sport went further in their critique, even invoking religious imagery to describe PSG’s frustration, saying: “Dominating throughout the match without being able to find the breakthrough, Paris Saint-Germain were crucified in the last minutes. On his first ball, Harvey Elliott scored with a left-footed shot.”
The outlet also marveled at Alisson’s performance, joking whether the Brazilian goalkeeper had left his “superhero costume” in Paris due to the incredible nature of his display.
Meanwhile, Foot Mercato emphasized that PSG had done almost everything right, claiming: “On paper, it was difficult to do better as PSG crushed one of the best teams in Europe. But this defeat at the end of the match has a bitter taste.”
There was still some optimism in France, with Le Parisien suggesting that PSG had proven themselves to be one of Europe’s elite teams, maintaining hope that they could turn the tie around when they face Liverpool at Anfield.
L’Equipe’s player ratings reflected Liverpool’s reliance on their goalkeeper, giving Alisson a rare 9/10—one of only 15 perfect scores ever awarded by the outlet. In contrast, only Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate (who controversially escaped a red card) earned higher than 5/10, with Mohamed Salah receiving a harsh 3/10 for his underwhelming performance.
For PSG, their top performers were the Portuguese duo of Vitinha and Joao Neves, both of whom earned 7/10. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who couldn’t stop Liverpool’s only shot on target, was given a disappointing 4/10.
