Liverpool legend shock at what Arne Slot made Harvey Elliott do after final whistle
Steve McManaman was left stunned by what Harvey Elliott was spotted after scoring the late winner for Liverpool in their Champions League clash with PSG.
Arne Slot‘s side made the trip to the Parc De Princes for the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie against the French champions on Wednesday night.
It was PSG who produced a dominant performance throughout much of the game, while Liverpool were lucky not to have Ibrahima Konate sent off early on.
However, a stunning performance by goalkeeper Alisson helped Liverpool stay in the game, before a dramatic late turn of events.
There have been suggestions that Elliott is unhappy at Liverpool and may look to leave the club in the summer amid his lack of game time this season.
He was again limited in his opportunities against PSG as Slot brought him on with just five minutes of normal time remaining.
Despite that the winger made a major impact, scoring with his first touch less than a minute after coming onto the pitch to give his side the unlikeliest of wins.
Harvey Elliott gets the substitute treatment despite late winner
Even though he delivered those late heroics, Elliott still had more work to get through after the full time whistle.
Along with the rest of the Liverpool substitutes who had been limited in their involvement in the game, the winger was forced to go through a warm down on the pitch post-match.
That seemingly came to both the shock and amusement of McManaman, who felt the 21-year-old deserved a better reward for his contribution.
Speaking after the game while working as a pundit on TNT Sports, the former Liverpool midfielder exclaimed (10:10pm): “The goalscorer’s doing a warm down the poor thing! They’ve sent him back out to do a warm down! He should be sitting in a bath with a big cigar.”
As presenter Reshmin Chowdhury and former Man United defender Rio Ferdinand laughed along at that observation, the latter then added: “That’s professionalism of the highest order”
Liverpool will wonder if they have just seen a big turning point
Football Insider Verdict
There is no doubt that the goal from Elliott will prove to be a major moment in the tie as whole.
Up until that point PSG had looked like the only team who were going to score, but it is now Liverpool who hold the advantage going in to the second leg at Anfield next week.
| Liverpool last five games | Result |
| Wolves (H) | Won 2-1 |
| Aston Villa (A) | Drew 2-2 |
| Man City (A) | Won 2-0 |
| Newcastle (H) | Won 2-0 |
| PSG (A) | Won 1-0 |
Having made such an impact, it will be interesting to see if this is also the moment that convinces Slot to give Elliott more game time going forward.
With Ferdinand noting his professionalism as well, the Reds boss may be keen to reward that along with his contribution in the game with more opportunities.
If that proves to be the case, then the prospect of Elliott leaving Liverpool in the near future may just have been diminished significantly.