Jamie Carragher delivered a scathing assessment of Liverpool after their 2-0 Champions League quarterfinal first-leg defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, accusing Arne Slot’s side of performing “like a team from a lower division.”

The reigning Premier League champions were outclassed in Paris, undone by goals from Désiré Doué and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia in a one-sided contest that left Liverpool clinging to faint hopes of a semifinal place. The scoreline, Carragher argued, flattered Liverpool.

“It was actually a great result for Liverpool, because it could have been, and should have been, five or six,” the former defender said on CBS Sports Golazo. “The gulf in class was very worrying from a Liverpool point of view. How has it gotten that bad?”

Slot abandoned his usual back four to field a back five, with Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong as wing backs. The tweak was intended to add defensive security against the European champions’ fluid attack, but Carragher said the plan backfired badly.

“The manager has tried something but he’s got it massively wrong tactically, how he went about it,” he said. “They were actually more open with the back five than they would be with the back four because they went man-to-man all over the pitch and the three centre backs had to cover the width of the pitch.”

PSG repeatedly exploited the spaces behind Liverpool’s wing backs and between their centre halves, dragging the visitors out of shape and forcing them into desperate last-ditch defending. Liverpool struggled to retain possession, were second best in midfield and rarely threatened at the other end.

Carragher’s criticism extended beyond the tactical setup to a broader concern about Liverpool’s trajectory under Slot, with this defeat marking their 16th of a turbulent season. He questioned whether Anfield’s famed European atmosphere would be enough to overturn such a deficit against opponents of this calibre.

Yet even as he dissected Liverpool’s failings, Carragher reserved admiration for PSG’s display. “It’s not just the system of Liverpool and getting it wrong tactically, PSG were absolutely out of this world,” he said. “It was like watching Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.”

For Slot and Liverpool, the second leg now looms as a test not only of their European ambitions but of their ability to respond to one of the harshest verdicts delivered by one of the club’s own.