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Kvaratskhelia rues PSG's wastefulness despite win over Liverpool

  /  autty

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia rued a swathe of wasted Paris Saint-Germain chances despite them achieving a dominant first-leg victory over Liverpool in the Champions League.

Kvaratskhelia was one of the stars of the show during Wednesday's 2-0 victory at the Parc des Princes, as his 65th-minute strike put the opening leg beyond Arne Slot's side.

The Parisiens led in the 11th minute when Desire Doue's shot deflected over Giorgi Mamardashvili, though the scoreline should have looked more handsome by the break. 

Ousmane Demebele, Doue and Kvaratskhelia all missed huge opportunities to pull PSG further clear, though they eventually made their dominance count in the second half.

After being picked out by Joao Neves' superb pass, Kvaratskhelia rounded Mamardashvili before tucking the ball home, while Doue was denied a late penalty following a VAR review, which went in favour of Ibrahima Konate. 

Luis Enrique's team were deserving of their win, having registered an expected goals (xG) total of 2.2 from their 18 shots, compared to Liverpool's 0.18 from three attempts. 

But Kvaratskhelia, who, since joining PSG at the start of 2025, has been involved in more Champions League goals than any other player at the club (17 – 11 goals, six assists), believed his team should have put the quarter-final tie to bed. 

"We had chances to score more, we should have scored more goals at times," Kvaratskhelia told Canal+.

"But it's good, we played a good game. We have to stay focused, the atmosphere will be incredible at Anfield in the second leg. We are ready."

PSG have now won eight of their last 10 Champions League games against English sides (D1 L1), as many as they had in their first 27 in the competition (D7 L12).

And they were helped by the brilliance of Doue, who became the sixth player to score 10 Champions League goals before turning 21, after Erling Haaland (20), Kylian Mbappe (19), Karim Benzema (12), Jude Bellingham (10) and Lamine Yamal (10).

They also restricted Liverpool from having any shots on target in a Champions League match for the first time since November 2020 against Atalanta. 

However, the same sentiments were echoed by Warren Zaire-Emery, who insisted that the magic of Anfield means the tie is far from being done and dusted.

"We could have scored more. It's a shame, even if 2-0 is already good, nothing is done," Zaire-Emery added. 

"We will go there with the same intentions, and try to win the match. We don't know what can happen in a match, we'll have to be serious.

"We try to prepare for each match in the same way, by coming high and putting intensity and pressing.

"We managed to do it well, to create a lot of chances, but we had to put them away."