Southampton Between PSG Games Is Perfect Believes Liverpool Legend | OneFootball

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Liverpool legend John Barnes insists the Reds could not have asked for a better game than Southampton between two against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, following the 2-0 win against Newcastle United on Wednesday night.

Arne Slot’s men recorded a comfortable win at home against a sixth-placed Magpies team and put up a 13-point lead at the top of the table given Arsenal were held to a draw by Nottingham Forest.

Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister put the three points out of reach of the visitors, who missed their top scorer, Alexander Isak, due to an injury.

Slot’s team will face bottom-of-the-table Southampton in the league in between both legs of their Champions League last 16 tie against PSG.

Barnes remarked that the fixture against Saints is the best game possible to have between two European games against PSG, as he believes Ivan Juric’s team are not going to cause too many problems for Liverpool.

He asserted that Slot’s team, who were knocked out of the FA Cup, are not likely to have too much trouble from a struggling Southampton team, while indicating that the cup exit gives the Reds a good opportunity to get in a bit of rest amid a hectic schedule.

“They probably are going to come and not cause too many problems. However, it is a game that we have to play. It’s a nice game to have in between those two games. But talking about having a nice rest now, we are not in the FA Cup”, Barnes said on the LFC TV’s The Reaction (32:47).

“If we go out of the Champions League, we can get more rest. Is that what we want? No.

“We want to be in every competition. But we have to take the positives. If we then go out and did as we did in the FA Cup. It’s great.

“But I think if we had to have a game in between two games against Paris Saint Germain, we could not have asked for a better game than Southampton”, he added.

Following their win against the Magpies in the league on Wednesday night, the Reds will now shift their focus to their European campaign as they travel to the Parc des Princes to face PSG, who are unbeaten in their last five games in Europe, in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday.

The last time both teams faced each other was in the group stage of the competition in the 2018/19 season, where Liverpool lost 2-1 away, but won 3-2 at home and went on to lift the cup in Madrid.