Arne Slot explained that his decision to leave Mohamed Salah on the bench was due to Liverpool being in “survival mode” and needing to focus on defending during their 2–0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
Egyptian forward Salah was an unused substitute in the clash at the Parc des Princes, just a few weeks after announcing that he would leave the club at the end of the season.
The 33-year-old had endured disappointing performances in recent outings for the Premier League champions, including missing a spot-kick in Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup last weekend.
Speaking after the match, Slot believes prioritizing defending was more important and Salah has a key role to play in the second leg next week.
“I think the last part of the game was more about surviving for us than there was ever a chance we could score”, Slot stated.
“But I think this was a 20-25 minutes where we were only defending.”
Liverpool failed to have an attempt on target in the clash, while it marked the second time Salah would be absent from a Champions League knockout tie for the club since his arrival in 2017.
Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored both goals for PSG, who could have easily ran away with a greater margin of victory if they had converted most of their chances.
Liverpool also lost for the 16th time across all competitions this season and have now lost four away games in a row across all competitions for the first time since 2012.
“Mo has so many qualities but him defending for 20-25 minutes in his own box, it’s better to save his energy for the upcoming games”, Slot added.
Liverpool will now be hoping to count on Salah for their second leg clash next week at Anfield, as they look to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg clash.
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