Arne Slot insists his Liverpool side still believe they can do something special against Paris St-Germain in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
PSG go into the tie at Anfield with a two-goal lead after winning convincingly in Paris last week but Slot was adamant the Reds can pull off what would be a comeback for the ages.
When attempting to overcome a deficit of two or more goals from an away European first leg, Liverpool have only progressed on two of 13 occasions (against Auxerre in 1991 and Barcelona in 2019).
“In the last 50 home games we have played, 36 times we were able to score two goals or more. Yes, we don’t play PSG in all of those home games but the opponents we have had across the Premier League and Champions League are very strong,” said Slot.
“Yes, there is a belief we can do special things but we also need to be very, very, very special because we are playing against the champions of Europe, so that makes the task more complicated but not impossible,” he added.
And Slot called on the Anfield crowd to help inspire his side in the same way they played their part when Liverpool came from behind to emphatically knock Galatasaray out in the previous round.
“They [the fans] will be just as important as our performance,” he said.
“I think we have to be much much better than last week, and their players are experienced and have experienced Anfield a year ago [when they went through on penalties].
“They know what is coming up so I can only hope that our fans find an extra gear compared to last year when the atmosphere was unbelievable.
“But I think our fans are up for it and I think I can trust them [to be] even louder than last season.”
Asked where the belief would come from, given the feeble nature of Liverpool’s display in France last week where they failed to manage a shot on target and Slot admitted they were “lucky” to only lose 2-0, the Dutchman emphasised that his side have shown how much better they can play.
“You want one example, two, 10 or 200? After the first half at the Etihad [in the 4-0 FA Cup defeat against Manchester City] did you expect City to be three goals up after 20 minutes of the second half?” said Slot.
“Against Galatasaray, we could have scored eight or nine at home, so the amount of times that we have shown we can be much better than we were at PSG, that’s clear.
“A goal can change momentum, which happened in a negative way at the Etihad and in a positive way on Saturday [against Fulham] at Anfield.”
