Parc des Princes did not witness the rout that even Liverpool might have privately feared but the gulf in quality between Paris Saint-Germain and Arne Slot’s side was laid bare throughout the Champions League quarter-final. Liverpool leave Paris with hope, having arrived with none, but will require a dramatic recovery just to lay a glove on the European champions at Anfield next Tuesday.

A fortunate, deflected strike from Désiré Doué and a superb second from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave the holders a deserved first leg advantage and it could so easily have been more. Ousmane Dembélé missed a hat-trick of openings, his final effort striking the outside of a post, while Nuno Mendes and Doué were also guilty of failing to punish vulnerable opponents.

There was no collapse from Liverpool in the manner of Saturday’s FA Cup exit at Manchester City and a resolve that was painfully absent from recent matches, but they were a distant second best throughout.

Slot had to try something different following the collapse at the Etihad and a damaging sequence of one win in five games. Something different turned out to be deploying a three-man central defence for the first time in his Liverpool reign,...