Liverpool went crashing out of the Champions League on Tuesday night, with PSG winning a dramatic penalty shootout at Anfield to progress to the quarter-finals.
Arne Slot's side weathered a relentless attacking storm from the Parisians in last week's away leg, somehow coming away with a slender 1-0 lead thanks to Harvey Elliott's late goal and Alisson's heroics in nets.
After their wastefulness in front of goal last week, it took PSG just 11 minutes to find the net on Tuesday.
A defensive calamity from Ibrahima Konaté allowed Ousmane Dembélé a routine tap-in in front of the PSG fans to level the tie in the opening stages, somewhat against the run of play.
From there, the game became a more even contest, and PSG were fully worth their 1-0 victory in 90 minutes. With the scores still tied on aggregate after extra time, penalties were required, and misses from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones would seal Liverpool's fate and end their European dreams.
Despite their attacking dominance across large portions of the two-legged tie, that PSG only mustered one goal was something of a surprise. Even more surprising was the defensive blunder from Liverpool which caused it.
Most fans would have blamed Konaté's ill-judged slide for Dembélé being given a shot at goal but Wayne Rooney instead chose to focus on the role of captain Virgil van Dijk, singling out the Dutchman for criticism.
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Liverpool v PSG: Wayne Rooney criticises Virgil van Dijk role in Champions League exit
Ahead of kick-off on Prime Video, Wayne Rooney commented on the "magical" nature of European nights at Anfield for Liverpool fans, joking that that aura was not quite as meaningful for fans of other persuasions. No doubt the ex-Everton and Manchester United star was quietly pleased with the outcome on Tuesday night.
Assessing Liverpool's performance in defeat, Rooney criticised captain Virgil van Dijk for his "lazy" defensive work in the buildup to the ultimately decisive Dembélé goal.
This goal from Liverpool’s point of view is wrong in so many different ways.
They are trying to press the ball –Van Dijk gets lazy. If you watch Van Dijk, he leaves a massive gap [to Dembélé]. If you switch off for one second at this level you get punished.
It was a momentary lapse from the Liverpool skipper and his teammates, but one which has ultimately cost them a shot at a league and European double in Slot's first season in charge.
They now have the rest of this week to dust themselves off for Sunday's EFL Cup final against Newcastle at Wembley, something Rooney said should be doable for the team despite their disappointment.
"There is no better way to bounce back," Rooney said, "I think they have got long enough [to recover]. I think they will be fine.
"They have come up against a very good PSG team and it could have gone either way. They will learn from this experience."
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