3 things learned in Liverpool against PSG

Liverpool and PSG participated in an offensive match at Anfield, with goals from both sides. Here are the important pieces of this fascinating match.

In a Champions League match between two European giants, the Liverpool club won the three points of Group C on PSG. While the final winner of Roberto Firmino was the maker of the difference, let's look at the stories that helped set this last moment.

Cross your heart: Liverpool's dangerous backs

Daniel Sturridge lacked the sharpness and defensive work of Roberto Firmino in the field, but he was well placed for several high-quality centers, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson. In the first period, a ball hijacking took place on Robertson's feet, and a beautifully tilted center found Sturridge's header to open the scoring.

Sturridge could easily have taken a second of the lead to open the second half, Alexander-Arnold driving in a diagonal center from the right wing who found Sturridge on a free head. With more power, he would have put on a corset. Alexander-Arnold could have scored a goal himself by hitting a dangerous free kick towards the end of the match.

Liverpool needed their young backs at the best time because their talisman was gone. Mo Salah was incredibly poor, losing several passes including the one that led to Kylian Mbappe's equalizer in the 83rd minute. Roberto Firmino only played a quarter of the match while he was still recovering from the eye injury suffered against Tottenham over the weekend, but that was his individual brilliance that sealed the match to the death.

On the defensive side, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, Neymar and Angel Di Maria were relatively calm most of the time (except for a controversial offside that would have allowed Neymar to qualify in head-to-head). Jurgen Klopp changed his philosophy last fall to have only one back at a time, which helped the team's former defensive defenses. Both objectives were due to individual errors rather than structural problems.

Robertson was at fault for the goal of Thomas Meunier in the 40th minute, deviating a bad ball, so it fell on Meunier, but he made another brilliant performance. If he and Trent Alexander-Arnold can continue to play with the overall quality of this match, Liverpool will be hard for years to come.

PSG has a midfield problem (and backtrack)

Thomas Tuchel, PSG coach, lacks midfielders. He decided to start the match with Adrien Rabiot and converted the back center Marquinhos by anchoring the midfielder. Again.

The 4-2-3-1 formation with which Tuchel started was the same one he used in a 4-2 win over Nimes earlier this month, except for Stanley N'Soki's departure for Juan Bernat at 'back. Nimes may have lost, but they found more space than expected in the midfield against leaders of Ligue 1.

Liverpool, to say the least, is not a freshly promoted Ligue 1 team. With Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and help the record holder James Milner in the middle, Liverpool dominated the match and made the work of the Parisian milieu extremely difficult. Henderson or Milner started several pauses, winning the ball off Rabiot and Marquinhos, both seeming rather uncomfortable at the points on the ball.

The other notable hole in PSG's lineup, left behind, was another point of dismay for the fans who entered the match. Instead of going with teenager N'Soki or Thilo Kehrer, Tuchel chose to start the summer arrival Juan Bernat.

In his second match only for PSG, Bernat has seen himself impose a daunting challenge in preventing Liverpool 's attack. An unfortunate challenge to Wijnaldum did not leave him seduced by his new fans, who allowed Wijnaldum to take a penalty and allowed Liverpool to lead 2-0.

Jurgen Klopp approaches the zenith of his experience in Liverpool. Thomas Tuchel has just started his own experience at PSG. It deserves the time to put its image in the reality, but the problems of the midfield and the back must be solved for the PSG to become a European competitor.

Roberto Firmino the one-eyed hero

It would be negligent to talk about this game without throwing metaphorical roses at Firmino's feet. The Brazilian only played 20 minutes, but he was the maker of the difference.

After the news revealed that his eye injury would not have lasted long, Liverpool fans were hoping to see their Bobby on the field. They finally got their wish towards the 70th minute, and Firmino gave them each dream with its sublime finish to death. He celebrated, as usual, with a timely and fun choice.

Liverpool is the most dangerous when his pressure is on the point, and this forces Roberto Firmino to be on the field. Daniel Sturridge and the rest of Liverpool's emergency strike options are not able to replicate Firmino's defensive work rate.

The other hero who deserves to be mentioned for Liverpool is James Milner. The old man won the tackle to set up Firmino's arrival, while setting up a challenge towards the end of the meeting on Mbappe that stopped a dangerous attack. This is not even the first time we talk about Neymar, which has been applauded by local fans.

Despite all the lightnings of Salah and Mane on the wings, it's the roughness in the middle of Roberto Firmino and James Milner that has allowed Liverpool to win all three points today.