Why Donnarumma returned to PSG dressing room before his heroic penalty shootout

Gianluigi Donnarumma has revealed the reason he returned to the Paris Saint-Germain dressing room ahead of their penalty shoot-out triumph against Liverpool on Tuesday night.

The French champions booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals following a dramatic clash with Liverpool.

Luis Enrique's side had trailed 1-0 from the first leg in Paris last week, but levelled the tie at Anfield through an Ousmane Dembele effort.

The Parisians ultimately earned a 4-1 victory on penalties against Liverpool, with Donnarumma saving efforts from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones.

Prior to the penalty shoot-out, the Italian goalkeeper had left the field to return to the dressing room, while his team-mates received instructions from boss Luis Enrique.

Speaking to Sky Italia post-match, Donnarumma initially joked about the reason before explaining that he had conducted final preparations with his goalkeeper coach.

'I had to pee,' Donnarumma said.

'I'm joking, I had prepared something with my trainer, it was right to take something back to try to save some penalties.'

Donnarumma's preparations ultimately paid off, with the goalkeeper correctly choosing the right way to keep out Nunez and Jones' efforts.

The 26-year-old then opted to fire back at his critics, after he was viewed by some to have been at fault for Harvey Elliott's goal in the first leg.

Donnarumma had got a hand to Elliott's effort last week, but was unable to prevent the Liverpool midfielder's strike from finding the corner.

'I see a lot of criticism from journalists, if you can call them that, without knowing what the goalkeeper's job is,' Donnarumma said.

'In the first leg we conceded a shot and a goal, it seemed like it was my fault, but I always think about smiling, giving my best and working for the team.

‘I'm happy with the team's performance because we knew how to suffer, coming here to this stadium is not easy at all, it's always very hard and above all to overturn the defeat of the first leg.

‘We played a great match and I'm very happy with the passage to the next round.’

Having knocked out Liverpool, who finished top of the league phase of the competition, PSG have emerged as one of the favourites for the Champions League.

Luis Enrique's side will meet the winners of the last-16 between Aston Villa and Club Brugge.

Aston Villa currently lead 3-1 from the first leg and will look to secure a place in the quarter-finals on Wednesday night.