Press conferenceArne Slot's PSG analysis: 'A great fixture for everyone who loves football'

The Reds visit Parc des Princes on Wednesday night (8pm GMT kick-off) for the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.

In doing so, they will come up against an in-form opponent who have, like Slot’s side, built up a commanding lead at the summit of their domestic division.

Shortly after arriving in the French capital on Tuesday evening, Slot previewed the game during a press conference with the media at the stadium.

Read his pre-match analysis of Luis Enrique’s PSG below.

On whether drawing PSG in the last 16 meant no advantage from finishing first in the league phase…

No, that’s clear because I see Paris Saint-Germain as one of the strongest teams in Europe. I think everyone agrees with me, if you’ve seen them playing in the last few weeks or last few months already. But that could happen in the former format as well; so, if you ended up No.1, there was always one team that ended up No.2 that you felt like, ‘We’re hoping not to get that team…’ It can happen in this format as well. I think it is a great fixture to look forward to for everyone who loves football. Both teams scored so many goals this season, quite similar playing styles maybe - not completely but the ideas are quite similar. Both teams like to have the ball, both teams work really hard without the ball. I can come up [with] six, seven or eight similar things that both teams are doing. So, yes, an interesting fixture to look forward to.

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On the overall quality of PSG under Enrique…

I think Luis Enrique did a lot of things really well over here in the past one-and-a-half seasons. He really created in a few transfer windows which I think – I don’t know, I haven’t asked him – but I assume he is quite happy with what he created over here. Not only in team performance but also in individual performance. If you look at the quality [Ousmane] Dembele brings to the team at the moment, it is very impressive. That is one of the many similarities there are – both have attackers in great form and scoring a lot of goals, as well as all the other things I just said. It is clear that Luis Enrique did a great, great job over here in the past one-and-a-half seasons and he was already in the semi-finals of the Champions League last season. In my opinion, this team is even better than the one he managed last season.

On the key areas that could decide the game and the pace of the teams’ attackers…

I did read that Luis Enrique said that we have three players that are really fast up front and again I see a similarity because [Bradley] Barcola and Dembele are also not slow! They are very, very, very fast, as well as [Khvicha] Kvaratskhelia, and there is maybe their fourth attacker, which is [Achraf] Hakimi because he is playing as a full-back but he is all the time going up and down, up and down, up and down – maybe again a similarity if you look at Trent Alexander-Arnold. Yeah, we will have a plan to show ourselves in the best possible way, that’s what Paris Saint-Germain will have as well, and we will see tomorrow when we face each other how things will work out.

On how Liverpool will look to deal with PSG’s intense pressing…

I think we have to show in every part of our game the best possible performance from this season. It’s not easy to dominate ball possession against Paris Saint-Germain because they take a lot of risk when they press, so they go man-v-man all over the pitch and that makes it hard for many teams to have a lot of ball possession against them. So, we have to adapt really well to what is in front of us. So, I have seen also a few games – mainly in the beginning of the season, for example against Arsenal, where they were not as aggressive as they were in the last 10 or 15 games that they have played when it comes to pressing.

So, in every part of our game we have to be on top and the best possible version of ourselves. That can mean that we have to do really well on the counter-attack and if they give us a bit more time we have to be really good with the ball, and when they have the ball, they are – I think Luis Enrique said it himself – one of the best teams, or the best team, in Europe and he is definitely right. They are definitely one of the best teams when they have the ball, with so much attacking threat all over the pitch and so many rotations, so many players taking in different positions. So, yeah, an interesting game.

They are, not only when they lose the ball but in every part of the game, quite intense in terms of pressing. I think if there is one thing people will tell you about us it is that we are quite intense as well; maybe not going man-v-man all over the pitch like Paris Saint-Germain do but we like to press aggressively and if we lose the ball do the same also. So, it’s so difficult to judge before the game because, OK we’ve played Lille, they have played Lille, they were already 4-0 up at half-time and we were 1-0 up at half-time so that tells you how strong they are.

But you cannot compare teams like that so tomorrow we have to wait and see if they will be on top of us and if they are, we have to suffer and we have to be like we were against [Manchester] City. Or hopefully we can hold the ball very well and we can play the similar style we have played in all the other games except for the City one, and that is us dominating ball possession. We will see tomorrow what the game will bring us.