PSG star outlines crucial change since beating Liverpool last season

Achraf Hakimi said PSG's status as European champions has given the club a new level of confidence ahead of their Champions League quarter-final second leg at Anfield on Tuesday

Achraf Hakimi spoke to the media ahead of the Liverpool-PSG second leg(Image: Getty)

Achraf Hakimi knows what Anfield feels like. He knows the noise, the atmosphere, and the particular brand of pressure that Liverpool's stadium generates on European nights.

He experienced it last season when PSG beat Liverpool there in the round of 16, a victory that served as a launching pad for the Parisian club's march to the Champions League title. On Tuesday, he goes back, and he believes this PSG is a different proposition entirely from the one that made that journey.

Speaking ahead of the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Hakimi identified the source of that difference with clarity. PSG holds a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Paris, where Liverpool failed to register a single shot on target and Arne Slot admitted his side was fortunate to only lose by that margin. It comes after Slot launched a strong defense of Florian Wirtz and Liverpool's transfer strategy.

"The difference between last season and this year is that we have more confidence," Hakimi said. "We are the champions of this competition, and that has helped us learn how to manage this type of match."

PSG's route to last season's title included that Anfield victory, a semi-final success over Arsenal, with Hakimi himself scoring the decisive goal in the second leg, and a stunning 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan in the final, in which the Moroccan right back also opened the scoring.

The experience of winning under pressure, he suggested, has fundamentally changed how this squad approaches knockout football.

PSG outplayed Liverpool in the first leg(Image: Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

"I think that in this type of competition, there are no favorites," he said. "The team's mindset is positive and there's confidence. Tomorrow will be a very important match for us, and we'll need to be fully focused. We know the atmosphere tomorrow night will be incredible."

Hakimi was also candid about the personal journey that preceded this season. A difficult ankle injury forced him to return quickly in order to represent Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations, a period he described as one of the hardest of his career.

"My ankle injury was a very difficult moment for me," he said. "I had to come back quickly to play in the Africa Cup of Nations, but now I'm feeling better and better."

Arne Slot has been criticized for his tactics in Liverpool's defeat to PSG(Image: Getty Images)

He also spoke warmly about the influence of manager Luis Enrique, crediting the Spaniard with reshaping his understanding of the full-back position. "The arrival of Luis Enrique changed my vision of football, especially as a full-back," Hakimi said. "It's a pleasure to have a coach with these ideas, and I think it shows in the performances of Nuno Mendes and me."

With captain Marquinhos set to miss the tie, Hakimi acknowledged the added responsibility on his shoulders. "Marquinhos is our captain and our leader," he said. "But when he's not there, I try to pass on the message he would give us, that we must give everything for this shirt and for this club. The most important thing is that each of us enjoys playing together."

Liverpool must become only the third team in the club's history to overturn a two-goal European deficit from an away first leg, having done so against Auxerre in 1991 and Barcelona in 2019. Slot has called on the Anfield crowd to find an extra gear, while Dominik Szoboszlai pledged his team would "go all in from minute one."

PSG, however, arrives with history, confidence, and a right back who has scored in both a Champions League semi-final and final in the past twelve months.