Steven Gerrard points finger at two Liverpool stars after 'cruel' PSG moment

Steven Gerrard highlighted defensive issues from Ibrahima Konate and Giorgi Mamardashvili as Liverpool suffered a 2-0 Champions League defeat to PSG on Wednesday evening

Steven Gerrard gave his verdict on the goal Liverpool conceded(Image: Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard has suggested the Reds were at fault in the build-up to Paris Saint-Germain's opener in their Champions League encounter. Désiré Doué broke the deadlock with a deflected strike that left Giorgi Mamardashvili with virtually no chance.

However, Gerrard believes Liverpool could potentially have averted the threat had they defended more effectively in the early stages of the move. The ex-Reds midfielder was particularly critical of Ibrahima Konaté's contribution.

"They could have been better around the halfway line, you can see PSG have dragged them out of shape. Konate could have done better winning his duel. You look at the backline now, it's all out of sync," he told TNT Sport.

"Again, they get up to the ball quick enough, there's enough bodies. They're not being passive, they're getting around it. They end up with four people around it when he cuts back in but no one gets tight enough and they get that cruel deflection and it makes them go a goal down."

Gerrard was equally unwilling to absolve Mamardashvili of all responsibility.

"Maybe he could have been a foot or a yard further back, there's no reason maybe for him to be that high," Gerrard added. "It is unfortunate and probably being slightly cruel, but if you step outside of the goalkeeper's union, you can say maybe he could have been that little bit further back. Then he might have been able to tip it over the bar."

Paul Robinson offered a somewhat more sympathetic assessment of Mamardashvili's involvement in the opening goal after just 11 minutes. Doué attracted the attention of Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch before finding a pocket of space to unleash a strike.

The ball, however, cannoned high into the air off the Dutch midfielder, leaving Mamardashvili stranded and barely off his line.

Desire Doue opened the scoring for PSG(Image: 2026 UEFA)

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Robinson said: "It is a fortunate finish from a PSG point of view. The pressure was mounting on Liverpool and it is a wicked deflection, which takes it up and over Giorgi Mamardashvili. He takes his opportunity Desire Doue."

Despite the narrow scoreline, Liverpool spent the majority of the contest pinned back in their own half. Former Reds defender Stephen Warnock suggested they could take some comfort from the result, given their struggles to advance further up the pitch.

"Liverpool will be very happy it is only 1-0 and their aim now is to keep it that way," he said. "From what we've seen so far, I don't see them getting a goal to take back to Anfield - they cannot get up the pitch and, even when they beat the press, they are finding it hard to get near the PSG area."

Liverpool were ultimately unable to keep PSG at bay, however, as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia drifted away from Ryan Gravenberch before calmly finishing from inside the box to extend the Ligue 1 side's advantage on 65 minutes.