Tim Sherwood has offered Liverpool fans a crumb of comfort after the Reds’ elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Despite a 20-minute spell in the second half in which Arne Slot’s side were dominant, they were ultimately beaten 2-0 at Anfield to complete a 4-0 aggregate defeat to PSG, who Stephen Warnock acknowledged were on a ‘different level’ to their opponents over the past week.
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Kopites would’ve had legitimate grievances with the overturning of a penalty which had initially been awarded for a foul by Willian Pacho on Alexis Mac Allister, only for the referee to reverse his original decision after consulting the pitchside VAR monitor.
Sherwood felt that Liverpool were hard done by over that call, and despite the deflating result, he saw enough in the Reds’ performance to believe that they will be back in the Champions League next season.
Sherwood backing Liverpool to qualify for Champions League
The former Blackburn midfielder said on Sky Sports News: “Liverpool were the better team tonight. I still think it was a penalty [for Liverpool]. There was contact into the back of the leg. He is entitled to go down with that contact.
“If they play like that, they will 100% qualify for the Champions League. This tie was lost in the first leg. Why didn’t they go over there and have a go?”
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Top-five finish is now essential for Liverpool, but run-in is tough
Liverpool can take pride in how they performed for the most part tonight, but ultimately they weren’t clinical enough when they were very much on top in the opening 20 minutes of the second half and left themselves too much to do after last week’s tame surrender in Paris.
The Reds don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves, though, as they now have six matches to secure a top-five finish in the Premier League and ensure that they will be playing in the Champions League again in 2026/27.
As it stands, Slot’s team occupy that all-important fifth place and have a four-point cushion over nearest pursuers Chelsea, but LFC have a tough run-in to the season which sees them play five of the current top eight, along with a Crystal Palace side who’ve been their Kryptonite.
What Liverpool must do in each of those half-dozen games is replicate the purpose and attitude they showed against PSG tonight, whilst adding that all-important cutting edge with the chances that they do create.
The mood is understandably sombre after the Reds’ European dreams were extinguished, but if they can maintain their place in the top five of the Premier League and ensure Champions League for next term, at least there’ll be some sliver of positivity to take from what has been a dreadfully disappointing campaign.