49 min Gakpo scrunches a drive from 20 yards that is palmed round the post by Safonov. Salah’s corner is headed over at the near post by Gomez; half a chance.

46 min Peep peep!

Half-time substitution Liverpool are making a double change, but it doesn’t involve Rio Ngumoha. Joe Gomez and Cody Gakpo are on for Jeremie Frimpong and Alexander Isak.

“Liverpool slightly better than expected, PSG not quite as good as expected,” writes Chris Healy .”Thinking Liverpool are going to need to score from a set piece because they haven’t really troubled PSG’s back line from open play.

“Robertson’s experience and Ngumoha’s trickery would be very welcome in the second half because Kerkez keeps giving it away and Isak needs it put on a plate for him. Fingers crossed Liverpool can raise their bar after the break.”

“Sad for Slot that his brainiac approach has not suited any of the players,” writes Ian Copestake. “He may as well give the crowd what it wants and unleash the Rio grande.”

He really should. If Liverpool are going to turn this round, they need to get the crowd going. Ngumoha would do that with one run.

We’ve just seen a replay of Hugo Ekitike’s injury. He hurt his right ankle after slipping and looked stunned as he started to register the pain and process what had happened. Sad to say, it looks serious.

Half-time entertainment

On this day in 1999, the greatest FA Cup semi-final of them all took place.

“It’s strange,” begins Matt Dony. “We’ve talked so much this season about the effect Diogo Jota’s loss might have had on the team, and yet I still think we’re underestimating the impact. As fans, it hit us hard. I remember feeling almost guilty for having such a sense of loss, when really, I had no connection to him. But at the same time, as fans, we enjoy a measure of distance that makes it easier to move on. I have very few reminders of that loss in my daily life, so it’s not something I have cause think about much.

“A few years ago, however, I lost a close friend in work in horrendous circumstances. The business moved on, I continued working, but that man’s name was all over files and documents I would regularly open. He was replaced, but every time I walked into his old office, I saw him at the desk. And it all affected me. For years. I don’t mean I was an inconsolable, mourning wreck for all of that time, but the reminders were there and I would have to just take a beat. He was on my mind. I was affected by it.

“It’s plain to see that Liverpool have underperformed for much of the season. I don’t presume to know how they’re feeling or to make excuses for them. It’s madness, though, to ignore the shadow cast over the season, or to think that they’ve should have put it behind them somehow.”

45+3 min “As a card carrying member of the Discourse,” begins Mark, “ I can tell you that by end of January of, Liverpool weren’t even in the top half of teams mostg affected by injuries this season.”

Like Morrissey said, some injuries are bigger than others. In 1997-98, for example, Manchester United were without both Roy Keane and Terry Cooke for the majority of the season. You might be right about Liverpool but I’m not sure it’s so easily quantifiable.

45+2 min Mac Allister is booked for a foul on Joao Neves. He was on a yellow card, which means that one way or another, he will miss the first leg of the semi-final.

45+1 min Four minutes of added time.

45 min Liverpool want but don’t get a foul when Salah goes over the D. Pacho leaned into him after originally letting the ball run under his foot. Could have gone either way.

43 min Vitinha plays a terrific pass to the overlapping Hakimi, whose low cross towards Dembele is crucially intercepted at the near post by Konate.

42 min A deliciously silky PSG move falls down when Kvaratskhelia tries to change direction to receive Vitinha’s pass and loses his footing.

Moments later, Vitinha shoots straight at Mamarashvili from distance. PSG have regained control of the game; the relaxed rhythm of their passing and movement is low-level awesome.

38 min: PSG substitution Nuno Mendes is injured and needs to leave the field. Lucas Hernandez replaces him at left-back.

Incidentally, it is pelting down at Anfield.

37 min Possession percentage: Liverpool 39-61 PSG. But Liverpool are having a decnet spell as we approach half-time.

35 min Fun fact: on this day 35 years ago, ITV aired the second-ever episode of Darling Buds of May.

34 min “Slot has made too many mistakes to count this season but he has been cursed by injuries,” says Niall Mullen.

I’m not sure The Discourse has space for such nuance any more.

31 min: Chance for Liverpool! Marquinhos screams in triumph after denying Liverpool a goal. Salah’s first touch was a dangerous inswinging cross towards the far post that Kerkez met on the half-volley Safonov changed direction to make an outstanding save low to his left, but the ball ran loose in front of a largely open goal. Van Dijk looked set to score from four yards until Marquinhos took ball and man with a sensational tackle.

30 min: Liverpool substitution Ekitike has both hands on his head as he is stretchered off the field. He doesn’t look in agony but the body language of those near him, players and medical staff, suggest it’s a serious injury. Mo Salah replaces him.

29 min A stretcher is being brought onto the field and Mo Salah is preparing to come on. There’s a fair bit of concern on the faces of both the Liverpool and PSG players.

28 min Ekitike is down and looks in a significant pain. It’s a rainy night at Anfield and he slipped with nobody near him. This doesn’t look great.

25 min Dembele’s excellent cross/pass from the right finds Doue in a peedie bit of space at the far post – but he decides to take a touch and leaves the ball behind. If he had the chance again he might wallop a first-time shot on the bounce.

There’s been another goal in Madrid. Here’s some bait. Would you like to click it?

22 min Safonov makes a fine one-on-one save from Isak, though the flag went up for offside after the event. Even so, that was more encouraging for Liverpool: a surge through midfield from Gravenberch and an Ian Rush-like run behind the defence from Isak.

20 min Kvaratskhelia is holding his coupon after a collision with Van Dijk’s stiff arm. It looked accidental.

19 min “Liverpool fans cheering half challenges that don’t quite win the ball back reminds me of Petey’s recital in American Pie 2,” writes Niall Mullen.

[NB: Clip may well contain adult themes and/or language. I mean, it’s three minutes long and it’s from American Pie 2, so there’s a fair chance.]

17 min: Big chance for Dembele! Somebody throws a second ball onto the pitch while PSG are exploring the Liverpool penalty area. Play continues and Joao Neves lobs a short pass into Dembele, whose shot on the turn from eight yards goes over the bar. The bounce made it slightly awkward but it was still the best chance of the game so far.

16 min A mishit volley from Gravenberch loops towards goal, not entirely unlike the famous Origi goal v Everton, and is punched away under pressure by Safonov.

14 min Frimpong’s overhit cross is collected on the far side by Kerkez. He twists Hakimi inside-out but then crosses straight into the hands of Safonov.

12 min A Liverpool goal would change the mood at a stroke, but right now PSG are bossing the game while apparently playing in second gear. Again, it might be recency bias but I’m not sure I’ve seen a better club side since Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

10 min Dembele curves a delicious through ball towards Zaire-Emery on the edge of the Liverpool area. Mamaradashvili slides at his feet to clear the danger – but only temporarily. The ball is collected by Dembele, who quickly shoots from 35 yards and draws an unorthodox save from Mamardashvili. He was running back towards the goalline and punched the ball away a little awkwardly. Inelegant but effective.

8 min Kvaratskhelia beats Frimpong without even touching the ball. It was rolled up to him near the halfway line, and in the blink of an eye he’d let it run through his own legs and away from Frimpong.

Nothing comes of it, but it’s another example of Kvaratskhelia’s lubricious ability. I can’t deal with this bloke. He shouldn’t be allowed to play football before the watershed.

6 min Wirtz wins Liverpool’s first corner of the game. Szoboszlai’s outswinger is met by Isak at the near post; his flicked header is comfortably by Safonov. Decent effort.

In other news, there’s been an early goal in Madrid.

4 min That corner eventually leads to Kvaratskhelia flashing a curler towards goal from 25 yards. Mamardashvili can’t hold the shot but has time to collect the rebound.

3 min PSG have made an ominously assured start. Kvaratskhelia gets to the byline, then cuts back and finds Zaire-Emery on the edge of the area. His whipped shot is headed behind for a corner.

2 min Liverpool have started with Florian Wirtz playing from the left. Looks like a 4-1-4-1 formation with Wirtz and Ekitike as the wide forwards.

1 min After a minute’s silence in memory of the 97 Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough 37 years ago tomorrow, PSG get the game under way.

“Liverpool’s team selection,” begins Peter Oh, “is just the latest example of expecting too much of generative AI (Alexander Isak).”

“Thanks for posting Ian Copsestake’s very lovely and inspiring comment – and his book does look fascinating,” writes Philippa Bowe. “The comment echoed my recent thoughts, how the team is struggling so much in a season coloured by that terrible loss but still have to deliver those regular doses of escapism for the fans – and incur their wrath when they don’t quite manage. The beautiful game is so meaningful for so many people, it often feels like the players aren’t really allowed to be human.”

I agree. It might be recency bias but I can’t remember a time when football – or life – had such an empathy deficit.

Here come the players. The atmosphere is… well, it’s Anfield.

“You’d think after nearly two years in the job Slot would know the value of consistency by now?” writes Andrew Chappell. “But apparently he’s willing to roll the dice again with a new formation today. And letting the opposition know Isak is being subbed after 45 minutes? I’m doing my best to find reasons to be cheerful (part four) but not entirely feeling it…”

They’ve played this formation before, haven’t they, albeit with Salah rather than Isak in attack? Or have I been having more dreams about Liverpool FC?

The match is on Amazon Prime in the UK, which means we get to spend the evening with my favourite pundit, Clarence Seedorf. Here’s his take on the game.

It’s about how much the Liverpool players actually believe they can turn this around. We will see it in the first few minutes, in their eyes and in their actions.

To the victor belongs the spoils

Tonight’s winners will play Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the semi-final, with the first leg at home on 28 or 29 April. The second leg is on 5 or 6 May.

“Hi Rob!” begins Joe Pearson. “‘If we can do it, wonderful. If not, then fail in the most beautiful way.’ With a nod to Jurgen Klopp, I have no expectations, only hope. Sigh.”

“Liverpool have been in a cloud of melancholy at times, having to get on with the day job of fulfilling dreams while suffering an acute loss with no time to mourn,” writes Ian Copsestake. “It used to be that such mental distress was treated with a sea journey. There’s even a new book about its history. But absurdly it is Liverpool who are tasked with lifting us, and on that voyage I wish them pure joy.”

Ian is too modest/English/English to add that he is the author of the book, Madness and the Sea, which looks fascinating.

When Warren Zaïre-Emery ran the show as a 17-year-old in a 3-0 win against Milan, Thierry Henry said “the sky is the limit” for the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder. His stratospheric rise led him too close to the sun, though, and the crash back down to Earth was a rude one. But he has since dusted himself off.

Arne Slot has said that Alexander Isak won’t be able to play much more than 45 minutes. Interesting. I guess the logic of starting him is that, if you bring him off the bench, the match could go to extra-time.

Luis García was “super cool”, he says. That, at least, was the plan, but things have a habit of working out differently. When the former Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool player retired in 2016, it was the second time: he walked out of the game in 2014 and walked back in again six months later. But this time, he wasn’t going to be affected. All that suffering and satisfaction, the pressure, the emotion: that was no more.

“I was always very competitive and once I had left football, I thought I wasn’t going to have those feelings I had before,” he says. “I still enjoy football, still play seven-a-side with my friends – every Saturday at 10am, Los Jareños Club de Futbol – but I thought I had lost that and it wasn’t coming back. In fact, I was trying to avoid it; I didn’t want it. So when it happened, it surprised me. I didn’t expect football to give me that again. But there I was, crying.”

It was mid-February in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia, and the players García was watching celebrating a historic win were his, the feeling shared. “When I saw them jumping with joy, having been with them every day, sharing the long journeys, from Malaysia to Vietnam and back, on to Japan, and then saw them win I got that emotion again.”

“Disappointed that Ngumoha isn’t starting,” writes Patrick Crumlish. “Played so well at weekend and has something most of the team are lacking - confidence.”

Yeah, I’d have started him, both for his obvious ability and the impact it would have on the crowd.

“There’s a strong argument that Liverpool were the better side in the first leg at Camp Nou in 2019,” writes Niall Mullen. “Certainly 3-0 massively flattered Barca. Unfortunately 2-0 to PSG a week ago massively flattered Liverpool and, I’d argue, this PSG team is better than the 2019 Barca team while this Liverpool team is considerably worse than that Liverpool team. Which all adds up to say that sometimes even magic nights at Anfield sometimes crash into the cold concrete wall of reality. I suspect this tie will be over well before half-time.”

That’s a great point about the first leg in Barcelona in 2019.

Tonight’s other quarter-final is in Madrid, where Atletico have a 2-0 aggregate lead over Barcelona. You can follow that with Will Unwin.

Arne Slot has said Liverpool do not face an impossible task against Paris Saint-Germain but must produce the perfect performance to overcome the European champions in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool require another stirring Anfield comeback in Tuesday’s second leg to salvage their hopes of silverware having lost 2-0 at Parc des Princes last week. PSG were vastly superior in the first leg and should have won more comfortably, although their head coach, Luis Enrique, described such talk as “a trap” and claimed there will be “pitfalls” for his team at Anfield.

Slot and Dominik Szoboszlai exuded confidence at the pre-match press conference on Monday, with the Liverpool head coach insisting it will not be difficult to instil belief in his players for a make-or-break night at Anfield.