LIVERPOOL, England (AP) 鈥� Paris Saint-Germain鈥檚 grip on the trophy remains strong.
The defending champion advanced to the semifinals of European club soccer鈥檚 biggest competition by dumping out six-time winner Liverpool on Tuesday.
A 2-0 win at Anfield sealed a 4-0 aggregate victory and moved PSG a step closer to becoming only the second club to retain the trophy in the modern era after all-time king of Europe Real Madrid.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to defend the Champions League, we know that,鈥� said coach Luis Enrique. 鈥淲e are here again and we need to make the most of these opportunities.鈥�
Ballon d鈥橭r winner Ousmane Debele scored two second-half goals to kill off Liverpool鈥檚 fight and book a semifinal clash against either Bayern Munich or Madrid.
Also Tuesday, after a 3-2 aggregate win over Barcelona.
It takes something special to hold onto the Champions League and PSG is a special team. Madrid won a hat trick of titles between 2016-18, but no other team has managed back-to-back wins since the European Cup was rebranded in 1992.
PSG is out to make history after ending its long wait to conquer Europe for the first time last year. It is the second time in as many seasons that the French giant has knocked out Liverpool, which was in search of another famous Champions League comeback and dominated PSG for periods.
鈥淚t is a real pleasure for me to know that my team is at that level and can play at that level no matter who they are playing against,鈥� said Luis Enrique, who is a two-time Champions League-winning coach, having triumphed with Barcelona as well. 鈥淵ou can see what sort of team we are, what players I鈥檝e got. We鈥檝e got confidence and belief. It鈥檚 wonderful to be living this experience with this team.鈥�
Dembele鈥檚 first goal ended Liverpool’s hopes 鈥� a left-footed shot from the edge of the area in the 72nd minute. His second came at the end of a sweeping move in stoppage time.
Dembele had been guilty of wasting chances in the to effectively put the tie to bed and he failed to capitalize on two more first-half opportunities to put the French champion further ahead at Anfield.
But his opening goal was dispatched with precision 鈥� nestling in the bottom corner. His second was a clinical finish from close range.
Liverpool had been dominated in Paris last week. But the Merseyside club knows all about comebacks in this competition.
It was 3-0 down to AC Milan in the 2005 final and powered back to win on penalties. More recently, it routed Barcelona 4-0 in the 2019 semifinals to overturn a 3-0 first-leg loss and go on to lift the trophy.
Anfield is famed for its white-hot atmosphere, especially on European nights, and the PSG team bus was greeted by red flares as it approached the ground. But inside, the French fans more than held their own 鈥� singing loudly in the away section as the home crowd seemed strangely subdued at times.
Liverpool had its chances despite . Virgil van Dijk was denied a first-half tap-in when Marquinhos pulled off a last-ditch block.
In the second half, belief among the home fans began to grow as Liverpool applied the pressure.
And a comeback looked on when referee Maurizio Mariani pointed to the spot for a foul by Willian Pacho on Alexis Mac Allister shortly after the hour.
With the score at 0-0, this was the chance to test PSG’s resolve. But celebrations soon turned to disappointment when the penalty was overturned after review.
鈥淲e are very disappointed because I think there were parts in the second half where you could just feel that if we can score now this is going to become a special night,鈥� said Liverpool coach Arne Slot. 鈥淏ut the future looks very bright for this team, for this club, because we鈥檝e shown that we can compete with the champions of Europe in our stadium.鈥�
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