Virgil van Dijk has warned Liverpool must take things up another gear if they are to survive their heavyweight Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

Liverpool have enjoyed an incredible season under Arne Slot, sitting 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League and with an EFL Cup final against Newcastle United in the diary.

But on Wednesday, they will face one of their toughest tests under the Dutchman when they visit the Parc des Princes for the first leg of their round-of-16 clash.

PSG have been in remarkable form lately, winning 18 of their last 20 matches in all competitions (two draws) and winning five in a row in the Champions League – including a 10-0 aggregate triumph over Brest in the play-off round.

They have scored 21 goals and only conceded three in their last five European outings, and are assigned a 41% chance of advancing to the quarter-finals at the Reds' expense.

Speaking to LFCTV, Van Dijk said: "It will be a very good game against a team in form. I think they played very well in their last Champions League game against Brest.

"It will be difficult but these are the games you want to compete in and I am really looking forward to it.

"Of course, it feels like it goes up a level now. We are in the knockout stages and there is no time for errors or bad games, basically. 

"There are two games to get through and we want to be so good that we deserve to go through.

"But you have to fight for it, you have to do everything in your power to win the game. That is what we are going to try to do, but we are definitely aware of them.

"We will be aware of them in Paris and then obviously back here. These are the nights that you want to perform in and you want to show the whole world."

Liverpool have not won any of their last five away games against French sides in Europe (two draws, three defeats), with their last such victory coming at Marseille in September 2008 (2-1 in the Champions League's group stage).

But Slot is unbeaten in three European meetings with French teams, winning two of those games and drawing the other, the most recent being a 2-1 triumph over Lille this season.