Arne Slot gave an update on Cody Gakpo’s injury in his pre-match press conference (Image: LFC)
manager has revealed that Cody Gakpo aggravated his ankle injury in training yesterday. The Dutch attacker came off the bench against and after returning from a brief stint on the sidelines. He with the Reds but may miss out on tomorrow night’s Champions League last 16 first leg.
Gakpo but has flown over to the French capital as part of ‘s 24-man travelling squad. Slot said in his pre-match press conference: “Yeah he was close to being ready to play again but unfortunately yesterday he had to block a shot and he felt a bit of pain again. We’ve taken him (here) to judge if he can be a part of the squad yes or no. It will be a close call.”
PSG have won 10 matches in a row across all competitions and have not lost since November. They thrashed Brest 10-0 over two legs in the playoff round to book their spot in this stage of the tournament. And Slot is wary of their 26-goal top scorer Ousmane Dembele who has enjoyed a new lease of life at the Parc des Princes under Luis Enrique.
The manager continued: “I think Luis Enrique did a lot of things really well over here in the past one-and-a-half seasons, he created in a few transfer windows a team I assume he is quite happy with. Not only in terms of team performance but individual performance if you look at the quality Dembele brings, it’s impressive.
“Both teams have attackers in great form scoring a lot of goals. It’s clear that Luis Enrique has done a great job. He was already in the semis of Champions League last season and in my opinion this team is even better than the one he managed last season.”
Cody Gakpo has travelled to Paris with the Liverpool squad (Image: GETTY)
Slot has been thankful for extra time on the training pitch to prepare to face the Ligue 1 champions-elect, with ‘s last match having come at home to last Wednesday. The 46-year-old added: “PSG are one of the best teams and that could happen in the old format as well.
“It’s a great fixture to look forward to. Both teams scored so many goals this season. The ideas are quite similar, both teams like to have the ball and work really hard without it. Interesting fixture.
“This week was the first time we had a bit more time than all the other games we’ve played, that is definitely a good thing as PSG need all our attention and two days wouldn’t have been enough to prepare the team well enough for this team. I’m really impressed with what I saw.
“During the weekend, 4-0 lead by half-time, they are a very good. It’s a nice compliment to get (Enrique saying are the best team in Europe) but the best team in Europe has to win the Champions League and we are far away from that, starting with a very difficult game tomorrow and more difficult games to come.”