PSG on brink of Champions League exit

Despite playing some of the best football, Paris Saint-Germain is once again on the brink of an early exit from Europe's elite club competition.

The French league leader — which has lost at this stage of the tournament in five of the past eight editions — travels to Liverpool later Tuesday for a mouth-watering Champions League last 16 tie, trailing 1-0 from the first leg.

The result was in no way a reflection of last week's match at the Parc des Princes, where Luis Enrique's side was excellent but failed to convert a myriad of chances against the Premier League leader.

PSG was ultimately punished by a late goal from Harvey Elliott, with Liverpool's second attempt on target compared to a whopping 28 shots for the home team.

"We'll go there and show ourselves to be a team that deserves to go through," Enrique said. "We've got nothing to lose."

In other matches Tuesday, Barcelona defends a 1-0 lead against Benfica, Inter Milan hosts Feyenoord on the back of a 2-0 away win in the first leg, and Bayern Munich travels to Bayer Leverkusen after comprehensively beating its Bundesliga rival 3-0.

The loss to Liverpool was PSG's first defeat since November and halted a run of 10 straight wins for the Qatari-backed team, which has good reason to believe it can produce a comeback.

PSG the "most complete team"

After relying for years on the individual brilliance of big stars such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG has changed its approach since Enrique's arrival and the new philosophy is bringing dividends since the turn of the year.

Striker Ousmane Dembele has emerged as a major force within a free-flowing system on offense, while Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been in remarkable form since joining. In attack, PSG plays with great fluidity and imagination, and a hard-working team defends as a unit.

In Paris last week, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was the main reason behind his team's smash-and-grab win. He made nine saves, compared to none for PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma.

"This is the most complete team we've faced so far," Liverpool coach Arne Slot said about PSG. "Of course, we have played Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City. But they have so much quality with a great coach. He let them play in a way that is not easy to play against, with an incredible work rate. That is why we have to be at our best."

Barcelona protecting small lead

After coming out on top 5-4 in a spectacular match in the league phase, Barcelona had to be content with a tight 1-0 in Lisbon last week. Raphinha scored the winner for his team, which played more than 70 minutes with 10 men after Pau Cubarsi was sent off.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was almost as crucial in Barcelona's win as Alisson was for Liverpool, with several big saves.

"Our aim is to feel confident," said Benfica coach Bruno Lage. "We created many opportunities when we played them and we felt that we could have had different results in both games."

Leverkusen hoping for big comeback

Overturning a 3-0 deficit against Bayern Munich is a tall order, but also a big motivation for Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso.

"The mindset has to be that if there is a chance, we will fight for it," he said. "We don't give up so easily. Three goals? You never know. One goal can change anything."

Alonso has good reasons to be confident since Bayern had gone six games without a win against Leverkusen prior to the first leg. History, however, is on Bayern's side. The Munich club has made it to the last eight a record 22 times in the Champions League era.