Arne Slott’s 100th game as Liverpool manager ended in disaster, with his team losing for the second time in this season’s Champions League against Galatasaray.
Slott’s side, who lost 1-0 in a lethargic league encounter in September, were similarly disorganized on their recent visit to Istanbul, suffering from the same glass strikers and losing by the same scoreline in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Victor Osimhen, the opener’s scorer, teed up Mario Lemina from a corner kick to give his team the advantage ahead of next week’s return match at Anfield. And it could have been much worse.
In the second half, Osimhen put the ball into the net again, and Liverpool were ruled out by a controversially lenient VAR decision that Aydin Yilmaz was offside in the build-up, even though he had not actually touched the ball. Only Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane have scored more goals in Europe this season than Osimhen.
Remina (left) is happy after scoring a goal early in the game.
Liverpool, battered at one end and rusty at the other, were unable to create much of a meaningful game until Hugo Ekitike devised a plan to attack Ugurka Chakiru head-on. Florian Wertz tried his best to make his presence felt in his first start since mid-February, but was hampered by two injuries, and Alexis Mac Allister also fell short of his best opening performance.
The visiting side were plagued by mistakes and have only themselves to blame for their inferiority heading into next Wednesday’s final on Merseyside, marking the first time they have lost twice away to the same team in the same season in a major European competition.
Only once did they manage to push the ball past Cakir, VAR intervened and penalized Ibrahima Konate for handball. There is no doubt that that decision was correct.
Sunday, March 15th 4pm
4:30pm kickoff
Has the slot’s most reliable performer lost his touch?
Liverpool made the same mistake in Istanbul and were punished.
Analysis by Laura Hunter of Sky Sports:
Virgil van Dijk has started 29 games in a row for Istanbul. This is the longest run by a Liverpool outfield player since Jamie Carragher made 33 consecutive starts in the 2009/10 season, and it shows. The Liverpool captain looked leggy overall and his defensive decisions were poor. Unfortunately for Slott, he wasn’t alone.
Konate mirrored Van Dijk’s turmoil, and the uncertainty seemed to be running down the spine of the team. While Ekitike took his chances, Mohamed Salah was not there. Wirtz was also incompetent.
A striking feature of Liverpool’s game was how much they relied on set pieces to create dangerous moments. Everything from open play was either a misjudgment or an over-hit. Even if Galatasaray were to collapse at Anfield next week, which is possible, few teams would fear a team in the slot at this late stage in the competition.
Their performance in both boxes exposed familiar failures, but they are definitely inclined to hang on as the season gets underway.
The reputation of slots is “bad deja vu”
Liverpool manager Arne Slott told UEFA:
“You could say it’s a terrible deja vu. The score is the same as the game three months ago. But we played a game where we could have scored more. We created a lot of chances and missed a lot. The first 15 minutes were really good, but we couldn’t find the goal.”
“This is a very difficult stadium, both for the opposing players and for the opposing coach. It’s difficult to concentrate, it’s difficult to communicate. Galatasaray is very lucky to have such an atmosphere.”
“Now we have a game against Galatasaray at our home stadium. We have great fans who always give us strength. They will show it at our home ground, Anfield, and they will be our driving force.”
The story of the game in terms of statistics…
When is the knockout stage?
Round of 16 Second Leg: March 17th-18th
Quarterfinals: April 7th-8th, 14th-15th
Semi-finals: April 28-29, May 5-6
Final: May 30th (Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary)
