Liverpool Must Be Prepared to 'Endure' in PSG Second Leg, States Virgil Van Dijk

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Virgil van Dijk is adamant that Liverpool's Champions League battle against Paris Saint-Germain is far from finished, even after narrowly clinching a 1-0 victory in the first leg of their last 16 clash in Paris. Despite being dominated by PSG throughout the match at the Parc des Princes, the Reds managed to hold on thanks to an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who described it as the "performance of his life". It was young talent Harvey Elliott who came off the bench to make the decisive impact, scoring the winning goal with his first touch in the 87th minute. Liverpool, who only had two shots on target compared to PSG's 27 attempts, will need to step up their game in the return leg to secure their spot in the quarter-finals.

It was the Paris side's first defeat in 23 games, a run stretching back to November.

Liverpool will expect to be much stronger for the second leg at Anfield on Tuesday, but Van Dijk warned the tie is not yet over.

"It should be a great game and we have to be ready to suffer as they are a very good team who were unbeaten for a very long time," said the Liverpool captain.

"What I really liked was the togetherness, everyone put a shift in and we know everyone can be better."

Liverpool boss Arne Slot conceded his side would have been lucky even to escape with a draw.

Van Dijk agreed the backs-to-the-wall display is not how the runaway Premier League leaders are used to winning but paid tribute to the "world-class" opposition they faced.

"We don't want to be playing this way because everyone who plays football wants to have the ball a lot and wants to be dominating opponents," he said.

"But we played against a team with a lot of quality, world-class quality, and they made it very difficult for everyone in the world so far and they made it difficult for us but we found a way and we have to try to finish it off next week."

Slot's substitutes made a telling contribution as Darwin Nunez set up the winner for Elliott, while Curtis Jones and Wataru Endo helped snuff out the PSG threat.

"We are coming to the last stages of the season and the message is pretty clear -- everyone who is part of the team has to play a part when they come on," said Van Dijk.

"With the goal you saw Darwin makes it difficult for Marquinhos and the ball falls and he gives a good pass to Harvey for the finish.

"Even Wataru coming on, Curtis doing a good job is good to see. Everyone needs to feel that importance because there are many big games -- and decisive games -- coming up so we have to keep going."

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Liverpool can extend their 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League when bottom-of-the-table Southampton visit Anfield on Saturday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)