Arne Slot channels Michael Jordan with defence of 'lucky' Liverpool win over PSG | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has insisted his side have earned the stroke of luck needed to beat Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.

The Reds, runaway leaders at the top of the Premier League table, were overwhelmingly outplayed during their Champions League last 16 first leg in Paris, giving up 70% possession and 27 shots on goal, but snatched a late victory when substitute Harvey Elliott netted the team's only shot on target.

PSG manager Luis Enrique argued Liverpool's victory was undeserved, and while Slot did not hide away from admitting the Reds probably should have lost, he borrowed a quote from basketball legend Michael Jordan to explain how they earned a victory.

"We weren't a little bit lucky, we were really lucky - but as Michael Jordan said once, 'The harder you work, the more luck you have'," Slot reasoned. "This is the biggest compliment you have to give the players, they worked incredibly hard.

"That also has to do with the players being - if you were 45 minutes with the other team having the ball a lot and having to defend so much - mentally and physically so strong to come up with the second-half performance of not giving away as many open chances as we did in the first half.

"And, even scoring a goal on the counter-attack shows you how mentally and physically strong these players are."

Liverpool were made to work hard by PSG / Julian Finney/GettyImages

Slot continued: "If you want to win something you need to have once in a while a game where you don't play your best football and you are lucky - which is maybe not luck if you work as hard as we do - to get away with a result.

"There are almost no teams that play 38 games [in the league] or in the Champions League that play only good football. Real Madrid are the best example of that, they also find a way to win a game if the other team are better than them."

Liverpool have a Premier League game against Southampton to look forward to on Saturday before Slot will seek to make the changes needed to come out on top in the second leg against PSG next Tuesday.