Arne Slot bemoans ‘unfair’ Champions League exit for Liverpool

Liverpool manager Arne Slot labelled the new Champions League format "unfair" after his side were dumped out of the last 16 by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.

The Reds finished top of the inaugural league phase, which should theoretically have gifted them the easiest tie in the first round of the knockout stages. However, Liverpool were instead paired with a PSG side which boasted a ten-match winning streak ahead of their first-leg defeat to the Reds last week.

The French champions have taken time to discover their imperious form this season, losing to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich as they finished 15th in the league phase, eight points adrift of the Reds. That lowly standing forced PSG into the knockout play-off round where they obliterated Brest 10-0 on aggregate.

"If you go out then maybe go out against one of the best teams, making a fight of it," Slot reasoned. "They [PSG] in the end won and for us it is so, so, so unlucky that if you are number one in the league table you face Paris Saint-Germain, one of the best teams in Europe.

"It feels a bit unfair to go out in this round already - to win the group and then play a team as strong as PSG."

The top eight sides from the league phase avoided the knockout play-off round contested by clubs ranked between ninth and 24th. The leading octet were split into pairs to ensure that there would be a draw for the round of 16. As the two top teams, Liverpool and Barcelona knew they would be guaranteed to face a side which weren't seeded higher than 15th. Unfortunately for Liverpool, that happened to be a reinvigorated PSG while Barcelona were paired with Benfica (who finished 16th).

"It is something to take into consideration," Slot warned UEFA, "the worth of finishing first if you face PSG in the next round. We were so unlucky to play PSG and we could have been in the other half of the draw."

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