Arne Slot named six teams who can win the Champions League after Liverpool’s heartbreaking exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
The runaway Premier League leaders were in a strong position to advance to the quarter-finals after beating PSG 1-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Liverpool were second best for large periods at the Parc des Princes but an all-time great performance Alisson Becker kept PSG at bay before Harvey Elliott scored a late and dramatic winner.
Anfield was expected to play a huge part in the last-16 tie but Paris Saint-Germain took the encounter to penalties after winning 1-0 in normal time, Ousmane Dembele with the only goal.
Gianluigi Donnarumma then saved penalties from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones to send PSG through courtesy of a 4-1 win in the shootout.
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Paris Saint-Germain will face another Premier League side in the quarter-finals if Club Brugge are unable to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit against Aston Villa.
Elsewhere on that side of the draw, Arsenal are set for a quarter-final clash after thrashing PSV 7-1 last week, while Madrid rivals Real and Atletico are separated by just one goal going into the second leg of their mouth-watering tie.
Bayern Munich will face Inter Milan on the other side of the draw while Barcelona will take on Borussia Dortmund or Lille after easing past Benfica.
Liverpool boss Slot refused to describe PSG as Champions League ‘favourites’ after his side’s exit and said five other teams also had a chance of lifting the trophy.
‘No, I wouldn’t say they are favourites,’ Slot told Amazon Prime Video. ‘You know how much I like this team and how impressive they were last week and today.
‘It is not easy to play over here in these circumstances when we are so aggressive but they were able to get the win over the line.
‘This is a very good team, but there are many good teams still in the competition.
‘Normally you face these teams in the semi-final and the final but unfortunately we had to face Paris Saint-Germain, one of the richest clubs in the world, already in this round.
‘They can win it, they can, but unfortunately for them they’re not the only team that can win it. And it’s always about two games so luck and bad luck can play a part as well.’
Asked who he rated as the favourites, Slot added: ‘I haven’t played all of them.
‘I like Barcelona at the moment a lot as well, Arsenal has a very good team, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich is impressive. So it’s going to be close, like it was tonight.’
Slot said Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to PSG was the ‘best game of football I’ve ever been involved in’ and praised his side for their ‘incredible’ performance.
‘It was the best game of football I have ever been involved in,’ Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Anfield said.
‘It was an incredible performance, especially if you compare it with last week. Maybe we ran out of luck because the margins were so small.
‘We played the perfect game, except for scoring a goal. It was similar to Paris last week, when they played the perfect game and didn’t score. And then in extra time, they were maybe a little bit better.’
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk added: ‘We were pretty good and you want to go as far as possible, but we knew when we drew Paris that it was going to be very difficult.
‘In Paris, we struggled but we won. Today we saw a very good Liverpool side, but we’re out of the competition.’
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