Arne Slot says Liverpool have no chance against Paris St-Germain unless his side turns up for 90 minutes – after disagreeing with Virgil van Dijk’s comments about the team giving up.
Captain Van Dijk criticised his team-mates after last Saturday’s 4-0 capitulation against Manchester City in the FA Cup.
“You shouldn’t give up and that’s maybe, at a certain point, what happened,” said Van Dijk after Liverpool‘s 15th defeat of the season.
The Reds are under pressure to bounce back when they face European champions PSG in the Champions League quarter-final first leg in the French capital on Wednesday (20:00 BST kick-off).
And Slot has warned his side they have to play much better or face another crushing defeat.
“I didn’t see players giving up, but I also think it is good from a captain that he has a strong and firm reaction,” Slot said at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday.
“This year we have been quite experienced in terms of negativity. This was a big one because it was a [FA Cup] quarter-final. It was a big loss against our rivals.”
Liverpool conceded four times inside 20 minutes either side of half-time against City.
“I can tell you if we have the 20 minutes we had at City tomorrow evening here, we will again concede four goals,” added Slot.
“So it is a challenge for us to be from the first to the last second at the level we were at in the first 35 minutes [against City].”
‘We believe in the manager’ – Wirtz
Last April Liverpool were celebrating a Premier League title triumph. This April, they are fighting to save their season.
Despite last season’s success in his first campaign in charge, Slot is under enormous pressure to deliver Champions League football next season – either by winning it this season or qualifying through the Premier League.
“Yes, of course, we believe in the manager,” said Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz on Tuesday.
“The team should believe in the manager because they won the league last season, we had a lot of good games this season.
“We wanted it to be better, but we still have things to play for.”
Slot was asked how he was handling the pressure and what his players needed to do to salvage the season.
“The answer is already in the history of Liverpool,” added the Dutchman.
“This group has shown many times that they have come back after setbacks, and this club has shown it many, many times over the years.
“My team has shown many times in big games that we are able to compete with the best teams in Europe.”
Will fit-again Isak feature in Paris?
Paris St-Germain have a knack for beating Premier League clubs.
Since the start of last season, the Ligue 1 leaders have defeated Manchester City, Aston Villa, Arsenal (twice), Tottenham, Chelsea (twice) and Liverpool.
They have spent this campaign trying to replicate what they did last season, and, in recent weeks, there have been signs they are starting to do just that.
They ran away with the tie against Chelsea in the last round, winning 8-2 on aggregate.
Liverpool have £125m club record signing Alexander Isak available again after recovering from surgery on a damaged ankle.
Isak has not featured since December, but the club record signing has travelled to Paris and could feature.
“He can play a part; otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought him,” added Slot, who is set to make changes with Jeremie Frimpong and Alexis Mac Allister in line for a recall.
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