Liverpool and Spurs walking knife edge in Champions League

Liverpool’s Champions League hopes hang by a thread after a 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar celebrates after scoring against Liverpool in their Champions League Group C match at Parc de Princes. Picture: AFP

As four teams advanced to the Champions League knockout round, last season’s runners-up Liverpool edged closer to an early exit.

A 2-1 loss at Paris Saint-Germain in the marquee match of the round was Liverpool’s fifth straight away defeat in the competition, and sparked wild celebrations at Parc des Princes.

Liverpool, whose only shot on target was James Milner’s penalty to cut PSG’s lead in first-half stoppage time, fell to third place in Group C, which has proved the tightest this season.

A two-goal win over current group leaders Napoli — who beat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 — in a fortnight time will still send coach Jurgen Klopp’s team into the round of 16.

Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund ensured they will advance from Group A, and Porto won Group D with a game to spare with Schalke advancing as runners-up.

Barcelona began the week as the only team to qualify after four rounds of games, and were lifted by Lionel Messi’s sixth goal of the campaign to win 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven.

The five-time European champions clinched victory in Group B and will be seeded in the round of 16 — which means they are guaranteed to be drawn against a group runner-up and play the second-leg game at home.

In a tense battle to join Barcelona in the round of 16 draw, Tottenham scored in the 80th-minute through substitute Christian Eriksen to beat Inter Milan 1-0 at Wembley Stadium.

Tottenham avoided elimination and joined the Italians on seven points.

The verve of Liverpool’s wins on the road last season — at Manchester City and Porto in the knockout rounds — has been badly missing with three straight losses in Group C.

PSG’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had a relatively easy evening at Parc des Princes, while at the other end Liverpool’s Alisson had to make a number of saves to keep the scoreline close.

The runaway French league leaders unsettled Liverpool’s defence from the start. The hosts took a two-goal lead through left-back Juan Bernat’s shot in the 13th minute and Brazilian star Neymar finishing off a rapid attack fuelled by Kylian Mbappe 24 minutes later.

An expected late surge by Liverpool never came, and Klopp’s side must now earn a third straight win at Anfield on December 11 to advance.

Klopp remained positive, labelling next month’s winner-takes-all clash with Napoli an Anfield “final”.

“Now we have to use Anfield one more time. We are calling Anfield right now, and we will see what happens,” Klopp said.

“We need to create an atmosphere that is really special, Napoli are a very good side. We have to make a special night — 11th December we have a proper final at Anfield.”

Klopp was particularly frustrated with what he thought was gamesmanship tactics by PSG at Parc des Princes and also said home midfielder Marco Verratti was fortunate to escape a red card for a challenge on Joe Gomez in the first half.

“The little hurdle was the 5000 interruptions tonight, but the referee still thinks he did everything right,” Klopp added. “I think two or three times we have been the fairest team (disciplinary record) in England, but tonight we looked like butchers.

“They were constantly down, which made the boys aggressive, which does not help. You could say it was smart (from PSG), but the referee let that happen.”

At Wembley, Tottenham were on their way out of the competition until Denmark playmaker Eriksen’s goal earned a reprieve.

Inter are perhaps still favoured to finish runners-up behind Barcelona and end a seven-year absence from the Champions League knockout round.

Spurs head to Barcelona to face the group leaders on December 11 knowing they will reach the last 16 as long as they match Inter’s result against PSV on the same night.

That won’t be easy against Lionel Messi and company, but coach Mauricio Pochettino has faith.

“All is possible in football. We have big respect to Barcelona, they are one of the best teams in Europe, it will be so tough. But we have belief and faith that we can win,” Pochettino said.

“We need fresh legs, fresh mind and no injuries. We need to arrive that way in Barcelona.”

In Madrid Atletico took a second-minute lead over hapless Monaco, for whom Radamel Falcao missed a penalty. Koke’s goal was added to by Antoine Griezmann in the 24th minute, leaving Monaco and coach Thierry Henry adrift with just one point in Group A.

Atletico are two points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who drew 0-0 with Club Brugge. It was a second straight clean sheet in the Champions League for the Belgian side’s American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath.

Brugge will finish third in the group and transfer to the Europa league Round of 32 in February.

Agencies