Key events
52 min: Konate slaps a simple clearing header straight at Osimhen. And so begins a Galatasaray attack that ends with Lang curling dangerously from the left. Mamardashvili punches clear, solid goalkeeping under pressure from Osimhen.
51 min: Liverpool are winning the territorial game right now. But at the risk of belabouring the point, they can’t get anything going in the final third. A lot of whistling from the home support, which is something.
49 min: Gravenberch has the opportunity to release Salah into the box down the right, but clanks his pass straight into the nearest red and yellow shirt. Liverpool look fine in attack until they reach the final third, at which point the cogs begin to spin too much. Indecision reigns.
47 min: Gomez throws long from the right. The ball’s only half cleared, and drops to Mac Allister, 12 yards out. Mac Allister drags his shot wide left. That’s two big chances, and this is much better from Liverpool already. But then they started the first half like this, too, and see how that panned out.
46 min: Wirtz steals the ball in midfield and feeds Ekitike down the inside left. He shuttles the ball to Szoboszlai, who creams a shot goalwards with power. But straight at Cakir. “While Virgil Van Dijk has lost none of his positional intelligence and general skill as a defender, he is half a step slower than he was,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Konaté has to compensate for that, and mostly he succeeds. It’s in the mostlies where he ends up looking silly.”
Liverpool get the game restarted. No changes. Meanwhile here’s more from Peter Oh: “Turkish delight is one of my favourite sweet treats. It’s soft, chewy, fragrant, nutty, and that dusting of powdered sugar gives it a classy and attractive appearance. In other words, the opposite of Liverpool’s performance so far. I hope chef Arne Slot can adjust his recipe for better results in the second half.”
Half-time postbag. “Thanks for the Graeme Souness reminder, probably his second greatest European hit after decking Dinamo Bucharest skipper Lica Movila at Anfield in the 1984 EC first leg semi-final” – Peadar de Burca
“Victor Osimhen with 10-15% more focus would genuinely be a Batistuta-level striker. He has so many gifts” – Christopher Faherty
“Since last year, Liverpool under Slot have deteriorated. Not sure why he should continue for another season” – Jeff Sax
“I don’t agree with the blanket criticisms of Konate. He’s got skills on the ball, usually makes the right decisions, and controls his emotions and challenges better than most of his peers” – Peter Oh
“Liverpool ‘are a complete shambles at the back. And not too hot in the midfield or up front either.’ So we are Spurs then?” – Ian Copestake
Half-time reading.
HALF TIME: Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool
Liverpool were good for the first five minutes. After that, not so much. Galatasaray could easily be one or two more goals ahead. Arne Slot has a lot of repair work to do during this break.
45 min: There will be two additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Gravenberch spins elegantly into space and feeds Ekitike down the inside-left channel. He stumbles over, and claims to have been fouled by Sanchez, but there wasn’t much in it. Had he managed to stay upright, he’d have been making good towards the Cim Bom box.
42 min: Sara’s daisycutter nearly deflects into the path of Osimhen, six yards out. From the resulting corner, Lang fails to get a header on target. Liverpool really need to hear the half-time whistle.
41 min: Ekitike has the chance to attack down the right, taking advantage of a Sanchez slip, but he opts against first a drive, then a curler. Eventually a cross is floated towards Kerkez, who heads infield for Wirtz, who cushions a weak header straight at Cakir.
39 min: Gravenberch and Van Dijk do the after-you-sir thing in the centre circle, allowing Osimhen to nip in between them and race off with the ball. Nothing comes of the move, but that’s Liverpool to a T right now. They are a complete shambles at the back. And not too hot in the midfield or up front either.
37 min: Mac Allister stands over a free kick on the left. Instead of sending it into the box, it’s worked wide right, where neither Salah nor Gomez are capable of beating the first man.
36 min: … Cakir punches clear. Wirtz has the opportunity to shoot from the edge of the box, but tries a cute pass instead. It doesn’t come off.
35 min: Yilmaz is back up and about. The resulting free kick is sent into the mixer by Lang, and easily claimed by Mamardashvili. Liverpool launch a counter, their first attack in a long while and Szoboszlai wins a corner with a cross from the left. He goes over to take the corner himself, and …
33 min: Kerkez is booked for standing on the back of Yilmaz’s ankle. It’s clumsy more than malicious, but Yilmaz felt that and requires treatment. On comes the physio.
31 min: The game pauses awhile as Lemina and Szoboszlai clash heads accidentally. Happily, both are cleared to continue. “Konate can be brilliant, but too often he’s like Mr Bean on rollerskates,” writes Morgan. “I’d be lying if I said I’ll miss him when he goes.”
29 min: Konate is having an absolute defensive nightmare. A cross in from the right. He should kick clear, but connects only with air. The ball gets through to Osimhen, who aims for the top-right corner but clears the bar. Liverpool are extremely fortunate to have just conceded once.
28 min: Another speculative pass down the Gala left. Konate does just enough to ease Sara out of the road, allowing his keeper to claim. The hosts claim a penalty, but come off it.
27 min: Lang shovels a pass down the left to release Jakobs, who has been long forgotten about by the static Salah. Jakobs crosses low but can’t find Osimhen in the middle. Liverpool continue to live dangerously.
26 min: Gravenberch has the opportunity to release Kerkez down the left but draws a foul instead. Just right of centre, 40 yards out. Szoboszlai sends it diagonally towards Konate, who flicks into the arms of Cakir. Konate has been much better in attack than defence so far. That he’s responsible for Liverpool’s two best efforts on target speaks volumes regarding everyone else’s confidence.
24 min: The corner’s hit long from the left. Osimhen improvises a scissor kick but miscues. The ball comes back in from the left. Sanchez powers a header towards the top left. Mamardashvili claws it out. Nothing comes from the second corner. Liverpool’s defence is a rabble.
23 min: A free kick out on the Gala right. Sara floats it into the mixer, forcing Van Dijk to flick out for a corner, under pressure from Singo. And from this corner …
21 min: Lang curls in from the left. Everyone misses the vicious, dipping inswinger. Mamardashvili manages to divert away from the bottom right just in time, the ball twanging off his forearm. That was a good reaction stop in the circumstances. Liverpool do not appear to be in possession of a Champions League winning defence.
20 min: Sara dinks a pass down the inside-right channel for Osimhen to chase. Mamardashvili comes towards the ball but the striker gets there first. Osimhen telescopes a leg and loops the ball over the keeper, but well wide right of goal.
18 min: Konate, of all people, pearls a rising shot inches over the crossbar from 25 yards. Everything so far tonight, in so many different ways, suggests that Liverpool’s best form of defence will be attack.
16 min: Van Dijk looks long for Szoboszlai, but Sanchez is in position, tracking back and heading clear. Liverpool come again, the ball shuttled right to left across the face of the Gala box by Salah and Mac Allister to Wirtz, who doesn’t get enough oomph behind his shot. Cakir parries easily. Mac Allister was better placed to shoot, but opted to pass instead.
14 min: Liverpool recover a little bit of poise with some crowd-baiting possession football. Small acorns and all that. Meanwhile here’s Richard Hirst: “Little known fact: Mario Lemina’s only goal for Fulham came in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool. Scary or what?”
12 min: Cakir launches long down the left. Lang slips past Konate, whose eyes are flashing this way and that in panicked fashion. Lang’s cross is half-cleared by Kerkez, but the ball comes in again from the same flank via Sara. Osimhen, six yards out, should score but heads wide right. Mamardashvili was rooted to the spot. Liverpool need to clear their heads, and quick.
10 min: Konate faffs around again, this time on the halfway line, his half-hearted challenge on Osimhen allowing the striker to power down the right. Konate’s fortunate that Van Dijk comes across to snuff out the danger. So much for Liverpool’s confident start.
9 min: Goodness knows what Konate was doing in the move that led to the corner. And as for the collective defending at the set piece … dearie me. Liverpool do indeed rue their failure to take advantage of those early Gala errors. Salah has the opportunity to advance down the right but his control lets him down.
GOAL! Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool (Lemina 7)
The corner’s hit long from the left. Osimhen rises above Mac Allister and Gomez with ease, heading back across the face of goal. Lemina can’t miss from a couple of yards, and nuts home. Liverpool should have had a goal or two during those early exchanges, and now look!
6 min: Konate is caught snoozing down the Gala left. He allows Lang to skate away far too easily. Lang reaches the byline and cuts back. Kerkez is on hand to slice behind for the first corner of the evening. And from that …
5 min: Gomez flings a long throw in from the right. Cakir is on point this time, and plucks from the sky. Then a couple more loose passes out from the back by Gala. Wirtz, Ekitike and Szoboszlai overplay when someone should take responsibility and have a whack at goal. Liverpool may rue failing to take advantage of these mistakes. Gala are all over the shop!
3 min: Galatasaray have started in a strangely nervous fashion. Lemina gifts the ball to Wirtz, who rolls an instinctive first-time shot wide left from long distance. Cakir was out of position, so that was a good chance to snatch an early goal. Wirtz should have done better.
1 min: A positive start by Liverpool as they stream forward through Szoboszlai, Ekitike and Salah. The latter tries to reach the byline down the right but runs the ball out for a goal kick. All accompanied by ear-splitting whistles.
Galatasaray get the ball rolling. Liverpool desperately hoping to improve on the events of last September.
The teams are out! And there’s some BREAKING NEWS: the atmosphere is hella hot at the Ali Sami Yen†. Cim Bom Bom! Galatasaray wear their classic red and yellow halves, Liverpool are in third-choice bottle green, a colour that may send shivers down the spine of the Candy generation. We’ll be off in a couple of Zadok-the-Priest-soundtracked minutes.
†: This isn’t BREAKING NEWS
The disciplinary tightrope. Quite a few members of the Galatasaray squad are tiptoeing along it. Victor Osimhen, Noa Lang, Uğurcan Çakır, Ismail Jakobs, Davinson Sánchez, Abdülkerim Bardakcı, Roland Sallai and their coach Okan Buruk are all one booking away from suspension. Curtis Jones is the only Liverpool player in immediate danger of missing next Wednesday’s second leg at Anfield.
As for the Galatasaray team … there is just one change to their starting XI from the 2-3 loss at Juventus last month. Wilfried Singo replaces Roland Sallai at right-back. Their line is led by Victor Osimhen, whose seven-goal haul in this season’s competition is only bettered by Kylian Mbappé (13), Anthony Gordon (10) and Harry Kane (8).
Arne Slot gives his views on TNT Sports. “You can feel what it means to these [home] fans … the good thing is we’ve experienced it already, so it’s not new … I hope that’s going to help us … we are playing at Anfield as well, when our fans will show what support means … [in the league phase] we conceded after three minutes a big chance … not long after a soft penalty … that changed the game … they were able to use the time to their advantage … gave the fans and the players a lot of momentum and energy … that made it very very difficult.”
That 1996 flag-planting affair stood as the greatest act by any Liverpool-minded figure in the grand city of Istanbul until … well, I’ll not insult your intelligence by developing that point any further. Just as well referee Manuel Mejuto González fell for Sami Hyypia’s puppy-dog eyes early in the second half, though, huh?
Pre-match postbag. “Hoping to see Slotto run out to the centre circle and plonk a dirty great YNWA flag there to show he, us and them all mean business” – Ian Copestake
He’s making an oblique reference to this iconic moment in Galatasaray history, isn’t he, readers. The video below is well worth six minutes of your time. Not least because Graeme Souness’s pay-off at the very end is priceless.
Liverpool make five changes to their starting XI from the 3-1 FA Cup win at Wolves last Friday. Alisson is injured so Giorgi Mamardashvili takes his place in goal. Milos Kerkez replaces Andy Robertson at left back. Ibrahima Konaté returns in central defence, so Joe Gomez moves to right back, with Curtis Jones dropping to the bench. Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo make way for Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike.
The teams
Galatasaray: Cakir, Singo, Sanchez, Bardakci, Jakobs, Torreira, Lemina, Baris Yilmaz, Gabriel Sara, Lang, Osimhen.
Subs: Sen, Guvenc, Sallai, Icardi, Sane, Yunus Akgun, Elmali, Gundogan, Kutucu, Asprilla, Ayhan, Boey.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Gomez, van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Ekitike.
Subs: Woodman, Misciur, Jones, Gakpo, Robertson, Frimpong, Nyoni, Nallo, Morrison, Ngumoha.
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (Spain).
Preamble
Since winning the Champions League in 2019, Liverpool’s performance in the knockout stage of the competition has been, by their own lofty standards, little short of abysmal. Home and away R16 defeats to Atletico Madrid in 2020. A meek quarter-final surrender to Real Madrid in 2021. Home and away R16 defeats to Real Madrid in 2023. Last year’s flattering R16 win in Paris followed by defeat at home. To give fair measure, they did reach the final in 2022, and while that’s a fairly whopping great caveat, the overall point surely stands. Given their historical status as European royalty, the Redmen need to raise their game.
Which, to be fair, they’ve been doing in Europe this season. Their travails in the Premier League are well documented, but they won six out of eight games in the group stage, that 4-1 thrashing by PSV Eindhoven a really weird outlier. Their only other defeat was the result of an unfortunate and extremely soft penalty decision … the only problem being, it was at Galatasaray, which is the fixture they again head into tonight. And Gala are not a club Liverpool like playing: the Reds have won just one of five previous games against the Turks in the Champions League, and have never beaten them away. Throw in Gala’s exceptional home record in European Cup knockouts – they’re unbeaten in 10 since losing to Atletico Madrid in 1973, for goodness sake – and Liverpool have quite a lot of historical baggage to shake off if they’re to head back to Anfield with any sort of advantage.
So if all of that doesn’t tempt fate into gifting Liverpool a positive result tonight, we don’t know what else we can do. Kick-off is at 5.45pm GMT. It’s on!