Mohamed Salah cut a forlorn figure on the Liverpool bench at the Parc des Princes as he watched five team-mates be sent on by manager Arne Slot against Paris Saint-Germain
Arne Slot decided to leave Mohamed Salah on the bench during the 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain was because Liverpool were "in survival mode" at the Parc des Princes.
Strikes from Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia handed PSG a commanding lead in the opening leg of the Champions League quarter-final clash.
Having been omitted from the starting XI, Salah remained an unused substitute as Slot introduced young midfielder Trey Nyoni following the simultaneous substitutions of Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Alexander Isak, who was making his comeback following a leg fracture sustained in December.
The Liverpool manager explained that limiting the damage ahead of next week's return fixture at Anfield took priority over attempting to salvage the tie on the evening as Luis Enrique's team controlled proceedings.
"In last part of game it was more about surviving than us having a chance to score," Slot said when asked why Salah wasn't called for, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
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"You never know, as last season we scored five minutes before the end through Harvey Elliott when I took Mo off. We had 20-25 minutes defending in the box, I think it's better to save his energy for the games coming up in the coming weeks.
"You think you can do better if you press them high and force them into mistakes. But we were in survival mode for large parts of the game. But maybe also in the period of season we are in survival mode.
"We try to find ways where we can try to make sure that their qualities aren't seen that much but it's really hard to do against this team."
On the choice to deploy a back five for the first time with a full senior squad during his Liverpool tenure, Slot added: "They have pace from everywhere all over the pitch, incredible pace.
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"(Achraf) Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are an unbelievable threat apart from all the others, so we played them with (Jeremie) Frimpong and (Milos) Kerkez. That was the thinking behind it. In that way, I thought we could try to press them really high and aggressive. Usually players like Milos and Jeremie are better equipped to do that than out-and-out wingers.
"But you could see almost every time we tried to do that, those where the moments where we were completely ripped apart, they had five or six chances. It tells you how difficult it is to play against those teams.
"In a low block it means we have more defenders, more tight, more aggressive. The second part is when bringing Joe (Gomez) in you add some set-piece quality as well. There seems to be a lot of focus on the system. I would describe it as a five as well. But the margins are really small.
"What if we'd played with real wingers here how would that have looked like against Hakimi and Nuno Mendes? It's clear and obvious we won't play the same tactic as tonight.
"It's fine for people to talk about the tactic but for me that's not the story of the game. A lot of teams have played a lot of tactics here but the result is always the same – Paris Saint-Germain blowing everyone away.
"I am convinced that we can show something different in less than a week's time. I am convinced we will play a much more similar game as we played last season at home."