Comment: Slot channels 'quiet man' Fagan but Enrique's stars bring noise and have final say

Not since Joe Fagan won the League, European Cup and League Cup in his very first season in charge at Anfield in 1983-84, has any manager had the kind of opportunity facing their latest man in charge.

TWO TO TANGO: Liverpool manager Arne Slot (left) gestures on the touchline as Paris Saint-Germain head coach Luis Enrique watches on during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match at Anfield, Liverpool. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire

The Champions League trophy will not be heading to Anfield this season following a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat against PSG, but this performance did more than enough to suggest there will many more opportunities ahead for manager Arne Slot.

It is less than seven months since Slot took charge of his first competitive game for Liverpool, but he went into this tie not just with the chance to reach a Champions League quarter-final – but with an opportunity to aim at legend status already.

Sadly, despite an outstanding performance, his team couldn’t quite do it – with PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma the hero in the end.

It was always going to be difficult, of course.

Not since Joe Fagan won the League, European Cup and League Cup in his very first season in charge at Anfield, in 1983-84 has any manager had the kind of opportunity that Slot had here.

Now, after a disappointing end to frantic night at Anfield, the Treble is over – but hopes of a Double remain.

Top of the Premier League by 15 points and playing in the Carabao Cup against Newcastle at Wembley on Sunday – but first of all a chance to finish off PSG after winning the first leg of this last 16 game 1-0 in Paris.

Not many previous Liverpool managers have had the same opportunity. Not even Jurgen Klopp, the last Kop coach to lift the big-eared trophy, back in 2019.

Slot doesn’t have the same hyper energy of his predecessor, or his breathless interview technique, or his ‘mate in the pub’ persona which so attracted hm to the Merseyside faithful. But he does have an aura of self-confidence and thoughtfulness that is rapidly winning him just as many friends after another thriller at Anfield.

PSG, however, certainly tested him, not least with their forward players who ran Liverpool so ragged back in France.

Once again Ousmane Dembele was the man who troubled Liverpool the most here, especially in the first half, underlining that he has joined the world’s elite in what has been a remarkable season.

His tap-in opener at Anfield which put the visitors ahead after Ibrahim Konate slid in to try and hook away a cross, was his 29th of the season and the 21st scored since New Year. Quite remarkable, not least because it means he is currently averaging a goal at not much more than every 50 minutes in 2025.

Not even Mo Salah can manage that, although Liverpool fans of a certain age will remember that Ian Rush managed 47 goals in a single season when they won that Treble in 1984.

Dembele was not alone, however. His teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was equally impressive, and PSG’s midfield pressed even harder and even more energetically than Liverpool, in those early stages.

Then there was full-back Nuno Mendes, whose battle with Mo Salah was one of the most fascinating duels in the game.

But Slot, as so often this season, did have something up his sleeve. Just as he galvanised Liverpool at half-time against Southampton at the weekend, he did so again against PSG.

The home side were far more positive after the break – and even more so when their manager brought on Darwin Nunez and Jarell Quansah to try and turn the screw on the French champions.

At times it was one-way traffic in a breathless, exciting tie that had audiences all over the world gripped. 

There was a goal disallowed and so many other chances either saved, blocked or missed, and by the last 10 minutes of normal time Dembele & Co were starting to look ragged, kept in the game by their goalkeeper Dunnarumma, just as Alisson had done for Liverpool in Paris.

So, how would Slot handle extra-time at Anfield in a huge European tie?

He certainly didn’t look ruffled or stressed, bringing on Curtis Jones to add extra energy and galvanising his players, helped ultimately by the Anfield crowd, of course.

That much hasn’t changed since the days when Joe Fagan sat in the dugout at Anfield, although having worked under Bob Paisley for years, he perhaps had an advantage over his current day counterpart.

His team included Irish legends Ronnie Whelan and Michael Robinson - and they were far deeper into their development than Slot’s side, with Graeme Souness playing his last campaign for the club and legends such as Rush and Kenny Dalglish in their pomp.

Fagan, of course, was known as Liverpool’s ‘quiet man’ who simply got on with the job during 27 years at Anfield and with very little fuss.

That’s not quite Slot – not based on his antics at Goodison in the derby – but he does appear to stay calm in situations like this, and he never looked ruffled despite the tension and emotion around him.

This time Liverpool were a match for the rivals and half-time arrived in extra-time thoughts were turning to penalties – just as they did for Fagan & Co in the European Cup Final in Rome in 1984, when Bruce Grobbelaar’s famous ‘wobbly legs’ routine won the day.

Those days will surely lie in wait for Slot, who shows all the signs of being an outstanding Liverpool manager for years to come – even if this one ended in agony and disappointment. Roll on Sunday.,