• Head coach ready for second-leg showdown at Anfield
• Luis Enrique says winners of last-16 tie will make final

Arne Slot believes Liverpool must produce their best performance of the season to finish off “a complete” Paris Saint-Germain team that gave him sleepless nights after the Champions League encounter last week.

Liverpool take a 1-0 lead into the last-16 second leg at Anfield but Slot rates the tie at “50-50” on the evidence of PSG’s display at Parc des Princes. “The result was ours, the performance was for them,” he said.

The view from the top looks beautiful for Liverpool, 16 points clear after another comeback against Southampton. From Arne Slot’s elevated position up in the Anfield directors’ box, however, he could see warning signs with Paris Saint-Germain on the horizon.

“When I look at the first game against PSG, we have to go one step up in terms of intensity,” said the Liverpool head coach. “And compared to the game today, we need to go five, six, seven steps up in terms of intensity if we want to have any chance of reaching the next round.”

Manager says team can be more prolific despite 1935 Sunderland scoring streak being under threat on Saturday

Luis Enrique described Liverpool’s front three as “fighter jets” before their visit to Paris Saint‑Germain on Wednesday. He may have succeeded in grounding them but Arne Slot’s side still found a way to soar.

The exhilarating, aggressive football of Jürgen Klopp has given way to quality control under his successor, but Liverpool are no less effective for that shift. The league leaders, who can go 16 points clear with victory over Southampton on Saturday, have scored more goals after 28 games of this Premier League campaign (66) than at the same stage of their last title-winning season, under Klopp in 2019-20 (64). Plymouth, Tottenham (in a Carabao Cup semi-final Spurs ultimately lost 4-1 on aggregate) and Nottingham Forest are the only teams to prevent Slot’s team scoring in 44 matches this season.

• Leadership team to replace director of football model
• Leeds CEO Angus Kinnear will head to Everton in June

Everton have announced several changes to how the club will be run under The Friedkin Group, with Angus Kinnear arriving as CEO from Leeds and Kevin Thelwell leaving as director of football when his contract expires this summer.

Everton’s new owners intend to end the director of football model and transition to a wider “sporting leadership team”. Thelwell has been director of football since 2022 and helped steer the club through a turbulent period under Farhad Moshiri, including two points deductions and serious financial constraints, but will leave at the end of the season.

• Liverpool manager thrilled with Brazilian’s performance
• Alisson: ‘It was probably the performance of my life’

Arne Slot hailed Alisson as the best goalkeeper in the world after the Liverpool No 1 produced a magnificent one-man show to thwart Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Alisson described his display as arguably the finest of his career having made nine saves against Luis Enrique’s dominant team and played a part in Harvey Elliott’s late winner. The Liverpool head coach conceded his team would have been lucky to escape with a draw from Parc des Princes, such was PSG’s superiority, but had no doubt who was responsible for an unlikely victory.

Alisson had rarely been mentioned in the story of Liverpool’s old guard rediscovering peak form and propelling Arne Slot’s team towards glory this season. One night in Paris changed that. The Liverpool goalkeeper gave the performance of a lifetime, by his own admission, to ensure Paris Saint-Germain’s dominance came to nothing. Harvey Elliott applied the écraser et attraper. That’s smash and grab, to you and me.

Liverpool could have been buried in the first half of the first leg alone. Luis Enrique’s young, fast and vibrant team squandered several clear chances and bemoaned the decision not to dismiss Ibrahima Konaté for denying Bradley Barcola a clear goalscoring opportunity. Even Slot admitted that was a close call.