When the ears of Liverpool’s players stop ringing after the dizzying noise of the most intimidating atmosphere many will experience, they might just hear a voice in their head telling them they got away with one.
The English champions lost and have a sizable task to overturn a one-goal deficit in the second leg at Anfield next Wednesday – but their road to the quarter-final could have been much tougher had Galatasaray put away a string of chances.
Slot’s men lost in the unsettling, ear-splitting cauldron of RAMS Park for a second time this season as ex-Premier League midfielder Mario Lemina gave the Turkish side a precious lead but a sloppy Liverpool were lucky to not be punished further.
One would have never written off a comeback at Anfield whatever the score, noting both the Reds’ history and the fact Galatasaray so nearly tossed away a 5-2 first-leg lead over Juventus in the play-off round.
But 2-0 or 3-0 down would have been maybe a step too far for this disjointed and bipolar team in transition to overturn. Instead, after a dubious offside call, wasteful finishing and inspired goalkeeping from stand-in Giorgi Mamardashvili, they are still alive and kicking.
It is much like their domestic season. Given the average level of performances, Liverpool should be down and out in the race for Champions League football but you’d still more than back them to achieve that goal.
Liverpool were fortunate to escape the bearpit of Galatasaray’s stadium with a 1-0 defeat
Mario Lemina scored the only goal of the game as Galatasaray took a 1-0 lead in this tie
Likewise, they will be fancied to overturn this deficit but a better team would not have left them with a chance to do so.
Liverpool had opportunities of their own and would feel aggrieved at Ibrahima Konate also having a goal ruled out for handball, while Hugo Ekitike squandered a one-versus-one position and Florian Wirtz went close, but the defensive performance was worrying.
It was never going to be an easy assignment given the ‘Welcome To Hell’ banners and the fact Galatasaray had already beaten Liverpool, Juventus, Ajax and all-conquering Bodo/Glimt here this season.
‘What I do know is now it’s half-time,’ said Slot. ‘We have lost here twice 1-0 and the good thing is the next game isn’t played here, it’s played at Anfield and our fans can create a similar atmosphere.
‘I don’t think it’s possible so many things can go against us as they have the last two games (against Galatasaray). Things will be more normal in the home game.’
Liverpool have never beaten a Turkish team in Istanbul despite winning two trophies in this bustling metropolis with the 2005 Champions League at the Ataturk Stadium and 2019 UEFA Super Cup at Besiktas’s stadium in 2019.
The defeat also meant Slot did not end his 100th game in charge as planned. A win would have made him the most successful Reds manager in history (after a century of games that is) but instead he drew level on 62 wins with Sir Kenny Dalglish, 12 clear of Jurgen Klopp.
As a head coach who craves control, Slot would not be happy with the helter-skelter nature of this game where both defences were shoddy. There is a theory that clear-cut chances are uncommon in football these days but that notion was rubbished in this frantic affair.
Victor Osimhen had a goal ruled out in controversial circumstances after Baris Yilmaz was ruled to have strayed offside
Ibrahima Konate did have the ball in the net but it was ruled out for a handball
Wirtz failed to capitalise on two early sights of goal before Lemina – once of Southampton, Fulham and Wolves – scored after seven minutes. It came from a Gabriel Sara corner which was met by Victor Osimhen and nodded home by Lemina, who was in far too much space.
Baris Yilmaz, who terrorised Liverpool here in a 1-0 win in September, was thwarted by Virgil van Dijk minutes later while Osimhen missed a free header. Noa Lang and Sanchez both forced saves from Mamardashvili, deputising for the injured Alisson.
This was not a smash-and-grab as Galatasaray players smelt blood and fancied their chances of toppling the English champions for a second time this term. It slowed after the break as Okan Buruk’s team seemed unsure whether or not to go for the jugular and a tie-defining second goal.
Osimhen thought he had made it 2-0 shortly after the hour mark after a frankly calamitous episode from Konate, not for the first time, let the Nigerian forward score from close range. Yilmaz, not directly interfering in play, was offside in the build-up and it was chalked off.
Liverpool breathed a collective sigh of relief, a feeling replicated by the home team in the next attack as Hugo Ekitike charged through on goal only to be denied by goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.
Then Liverpool had a goal of their own ruled out after Konate was adjudged to have handled the ball when diverting an effort goalwards. His bicep did brush the ball, not deliberately, in a melee in the six-yard box. Both teams felt aggrieved with 50-50 calls going against them.
It was a match to sum up Liverpool’s season as Slot’s men left themselves in a position of vulnerability going into the second leg at Anfield. Next week will be an uphill struggle for the Reds but they are still well in this battle, which was never guaranteed.
