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The good news for Liverpool is that the situation is salvageable, when it really might not have been. The bad news is that they were distinctly second best for the first three-quarters of the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Nobody who saw their second‑half collapse away against Juventus in the playoff round could be confident that Galatasaray are a team capable of squeezing the life out of the second leg. There is a nervousness about them at the back, a persistent sense of misfortune about to strike, but going forward they are breezy, quick and fun. Their only regret will be that, having taken an early lead through the former Wolves midfielder Mario Lemina, they did not add a second goal to give them more to defend at Anfield.
Arne Slot had acknowledged that his side struggles to create chances from open play, but this really was an indictment of long-throw Britain, set‑plays seeming their only route to goal – although it should be a matter of concern to all English sides just how often the Spanish referee saw an offence amid what Premier League viewers have come to regard as the routine buffeting of a crowded six‑yard box.
“Every corner or free-kick if we only look at a Galatasaray player the referee gave a free-kick,” said Slot, contrasting that to a shirt-pull on Virgil van Dijk that went unpunished in the tangle that led to a Liverpool goal being disallowed. “It’s safe to say we were not the only one impressed by the atmosphere today.”
And it will be a different game at Anfield. Other crowds whistle but none do so with quite the unanimity, ferocity or pitch of the Galatasaray crowd, which is all the more impressive when you consider the breathtaking nature of the walk up the hill to the Ali Sami Yen, which stands above Vadistanbul like a great citadel, protected on all sides by lanes and lanes of intersecting motorway.
Slot had spoken of how taken aback he had been by the noise when Liverpool lost at what is now known officially as Rams Park in October, and said he hoped his players would be more used to it this time around. But it is probably not a noise you can get used to, a blood-curdling sound that leaves your ears ringing even in those blessed moments of relief when the home side had the ball.
Not that were many of those in the first five minutes in which Galatasaray looked distinctly anxious, repeatedly giving the ball away around their own box. But, as Slot has complained repeatedly this season, Liverpool have a habit of conceding to the first meaningful attack their opponents have, and so it was again. “Their first attack led to a corner and you have to give credit that when they get a chance they play it like it’s the last chance of their lives,” Slot said. “It’s something we can learn from: sometimes we treat chances like we’ll get 10 chances more.”
In September, it was with pace on the break that Galatasaray troubled Liverpool; this time it was the old vulnerability to set plays that undid them. Somehow as Gabriel Sara’s corner found Victor Osimhen at the back post, he was being marked by Alexis Mac Allister, a four‑inch height difference magnified by the Nigerian’s great leap. Osimhen headed across goal and Lemina nodded in.
The early lead meant Galatasaray could play in just the way that suits them, counterattacking at great pace down the flanks and crossing for Osimhen. The former Napoli striker is the great favourite of the home fans, something reflected in a pre‑match tifo honouring his mother, who died when he was still a child. It is easy to see why he is so popular. There are very few centre-forwards in the world with such a complete range of skills and it is frankly baffling that his agent got him into a contractual situation where none of the major western European clubs would sign him.
It could have been far worse for Liverpool. Giorgi Mamardashvili, in for the injured Alisson, made a handful of good saves, and Osimhen seemed to have doubled the lead but he was denied by a generous decision from the video assistant referee that deemed Baris Yilmaz to have been offside in the buildup, forcing Ibrahima Konaté into an ill-judged back‑pass. But what VAR giveth, it taketh away and Liverpool soon had a goal of their own ruled out, the ball apparently striking Konaté’s arm twice as it was bundled over the line from a Dominik Szoboszlai corner, although there may also have been a foul on Van Dijk.
There were chances for Liverpool in the final quarter, but this was Galatasaray’s night. “I don’t think it’s possible that so many things can go against us as they have in the last two games [against Galatasaray],” Slot said.
One goal may not be enough.
