Liverpool were unlucky losers in Champions League showdown vs. PSG, but clearly the better team won

The Reds were outplayed across 180 minutes and now have to aim to rebound quickly with the EFL Cup final on Sunday

Well, I hope you enjoyed that. The Champions League might not get any better than this between now and Munich. Over three and a half hours, there was nothing to settle the two best teams in the field but a battle of nerves from 12 yards out.

It was those of Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones that crumbled, the top seeds crashing out of a competition that they had seemed strong favorites for right the way through the group stage. For all the difficulties that Paris Saint-Germain have just given them, this result should do nothing to disabuse anyone of the idea that Liverpool really could have won the Champions League. If Gianluigi Donnarumma were a bit shorter, if Nunez had gone a little higher or lower, they would thoroughly merit the favorites tag.

Over the course of this tie, the better team won. PSG's pinnacle in the first leg was exhilarating, and into the final moments, it was Luis Enrique's men who looked the fresher and more likely to find the winner. Still, the fact that some form of justice was done through the medium of penalties does not mean that Liverpool were anything other than unfortunate to have been drawn with one of this competition's gold-plated contenders.