Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool: Champions League – as it happened

Andy Hunter was at the Ali Sami Yen and here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.

Related: Victor Osimhen fires Galatasaray to victory on hellish night for Liverpool

Arne Slot talks to Amazon Prime. “Disappointed because you lose … this was a different performance on and off the ball than last Saturday … first half we played quite well … a big chance to go 1-0 up … we controlled the counter-attack … Domink [Szoboszlai] felt he did nothing wrong … we are sometimes a bit outsmarted in situations like this … they make maybe a 20 percent penalty a 100 percent penalty … it was very smart of them … in the second half there was not a lot of playing time … their striker was four or five times on the floor … subs … injuries … difficult to get momentum … eight minutes added on was not more than expected from me … then he blew his whistle exactly on eight … the focus is always on new signings … that is normal, especially with the amount of money we pay … I have to manage minutes … all the players must adjust to each other … we have only lost one Champions League game and one Premier League game.”

Slot also reports that Hugo Ekitike is “hopefully not in a bad way” but “you can be sure Alisson is not playing [at Chelsea] on Saturday.”

It’s two defeats on the bounce for Liverpool. It’s only the second time that’s happened under the leadership of Arne Slot, who looks disappointed as he congratulates his hosts on a win they thoroughly merited. Cody Gakpo had a shot cleared off the line, but otherwise Galatasaray keeper Uğurcan Çakır had very little to do all evening; Alisson did, though, but just like against Crystal Palace last weekend, all it achieved for Liverpool was keeping the score down to respectable levels. Victor Osimhen’s penalty was enough in the end, but on a more clinical night the Nigeria international would have bagged a hat-trick. Barış Alper Yılmaz had a big chance as well. There’s no need for panic, but there’s work for Liverpool to do to get their reshaped squad clicking nonetheless. It might take a little time.

90 min +7: Lemina and Sanchez both go down with cramp. The referee Clément Trossard Turpin taps his watch theatrically.

90 min +6: Cimbom are keeping Liverpool at arm’s length. The visitors don’t look like scoring.

90 min +5: Van Dijk hesitates with the ball at his feet on the edge of his own box. He’s swarmed. It all comes at the expense of Gala’s first corner of the second half! They play it short, then eventually put the cross in. Torreira meets it on the edge of the box and fizzes a low drive inches wide left. Mamardashvili almost certainly had it covered, but nevertheless, that was close.

90 min +3: Amid a cacophony of whistling, Kerkez wins a corner down the left. Mamardashvili wonders whether he should come up for it. He’s categorically told no. The set piece is half cleared, then Mac Allister slices a wild long-range shot miles right.

90 min +2: … but there will be eight additional minutes. Still enough time for Liverpool to save themselves?

90 min +1: Even worse for Liverpool, they’d been building up a head of steam for the first time in the game before that incident. Now that’s been snapped by the wait for VAR. Frustrated, Wirtz takes a handful of Singo’s shirt and goes into the book.

87 min: Liverpool keep hold of the ball but do absolutely nothing with it. But then suddenly they spring to life, Salah playing a reverse pass down the right for Bradley, who wins a corner. Szoboszlai to take.

85 min: Yilmaz, who has been excellent from the get-go tonight, makes way for Elmalı.

84 min: If Liverpool lose this, it’ll be just the second time under Arne Slot that they’ll have lost two games in a row. The first: the defeat to PSG at Anfield in last season’s Champions League, followed by the League Cup final loss agaisnt Newcastle.

82 min: For the first time this evening, Liverpool are dominating possession and pressing Galatasaray back. But in the face of all the probing – most of it down the right by Salah - the hosts are holding their shape, and their composure.

80 min: Icardi is booked for a transgression not particularly clear.

79 min: Salah tricks his way down the right and slips infield for Szoboszlai, who enters the box but can’t get the ball under control to shoot.

78 min: Liverpool once again heading towards the last few minutes in search of a little something.

76 min: … and nothing comes of the free kick. Play restarts, and Salah makes off down the right again. He’s grabbed by Jakobs, who goes into the book.

75 min: Jones is sent sprawling by Torreira. Liverpool want to play on, with Salah in acres down the right and preparing to feed Bradley in the middle. But the referee blows for a free kick. The visitors fuming. Before the free kick can be taken, Sara comes on for Gundogan.

73 min: Bradley is booked for catching Yilmaz late from behind. No complaints.

72 min: Galatasaray now make their change. In fact it’s a double. Osimhen is replaced by Icardi as intended; Sallai also comes on, for Akgün

71 min: Wirtz has gone out to the left to fill in for the departed Ekitike … and he immediately delivers a fine raking cross. Bradley, coming in from the other flank, is under less pressure than he thinks, and heads back across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. That was a good chance from eight yards out.

69 min: Ekitike can’t continue, and Mac Allister comes on in his place, so there goes Liverpool’s last sub. However Osimhen insists he’s fine to continue, so Galatasaray put that change on hold.

68 min: Osimhen is back up on his feet, but cutting a frustrated figure. It doesn’t look as though he’ll be risked any further. Icardi prepares to come on in his place.

67 min: Yılmaz tries to tee up Osimhen on the edge of the Liverpool D, but plays the ball too far ahead of the striker. Osimhen stretches, but can’t control to shoot. He stays down. Liverpool counter, and Ekitike also goes down having stretched for a loose pass. On come the trainers.

65 min: Bradley has slotted into his right-back position, so Szoboszlai moves into the space vacated by Gravenberch. Salah takes over the right wing from Frimpong, with Ekitike moving wide left.

63 min: Isak’s immediately into the action, zipping down the left and flicking a shot intended for the far corner straight at the keeper.

62 min: Liverpool make a triple change. Gravenberch, Frimpong and Gakpo make way for Bradley, Isak and Salah.

61 min: … so having just typed that, the referee gets his card out. To be fair, he had zero option. Bardakcı for a tug on Wirtz’s shirt.

60 min: Szoboszlai catches Yılmaz on the inside of the boot and then moans about the free kick that’s awarded. He should be grateful that the referee is in a lenient mood, because that combo is often enough to warrant a yellow card. Just a wag of the finger.

58 min: Liverpool are currently playing like they’ve drunk far too much coffee. The passing skittish, too quick, shaky, nervous. The ball a hot potato. Can they calm themselves down? Will Galatasaray – specifically Osimhen – rue missing those two big chances?

56 min: … but Alisson has hurt himself, going down to smother that shot, and he can’t continue. Mamardashvili comes on in his place.

54 min: Liverpool offer Osimhen another gift, Konate and Gravenberch combining to miscontrol and lose the ball. Osimhen strides clear and enters the box. He opens his body and aims a sidefoot towards the bottom right, but Alisson gets down well to smother. Another huge chance for the hosts!

53 min: Szoboszlai whips into the crowded mixer from the left … straight into the nearest man, Gundogan. The ball cannons out for a corner. Gakpo hoicks that in, and Cakir palms it away.

52 min: Jones tries to turn Torreira down the left and is brought down just outside the box. A free kick in a dangerous position. Effectively a Turbo Corner. Szoboszlai to take.

50 min: Osimhen nicks the ball off Jones and advances on the Liverpool box. He’s got Akgün free to his right, but decides to shoot himself. However, in checking his stride for optimum shooting power, he allows Jones to brilliantly recover and toe-poke away from behind. Osimhen wants a free kick, but it was a perfectly timed challenge. What a waste for Cimbom.

48 min: Frimpong drops a shoulder and bursts past Jakobs on the right. He crosses for Gakpo, who is gently eased out of the road mid-leap. Then Frimpong comes again, reaching the byline down his right flank and cutting back for Ekitike, who performs a slick backflick that’s heading into the bottom corner. Cakir kicks clear.

46 min: Konate launches long down the right. Jakobs gets his header back to Cakir all wrong, and nearly loops the ball over the keeper with Frimpong lurking. The keeper stretches every sinew to claw away. So nearly a big gift for Liverpool.

Galatasaray get the second half started. No changes, though Alexander Isak and Joe Gomez have been warming up during the break.

Half-time postbag. “As much as I’m baffled that no big club made a serious play for Victor Osimhen, it feels pleasingly retro that a team from outside the big five leagues has one of the best strikers in the world on its books. It evokes a time when teams from the Balkans or Belgium were serious contenders for winning the European Cup” – Kári Tulinius

“Liverpool miss Szoboszlai badly when he’s not in midfield” – Dean Kinsella

“The referee looks like Leandro Trossard’s dad” – Gary Naylor

45 min +6: … but though Bardakcı’s shot pinged up and onto Szoboszlai’s arm, neither referee nor VAR shows any interest in awarding one. To be fair, that was from close range in a crowded box, and Szoboszlai knew nothing about it. But that would have put the tin lid on a difficult first half for Liverpool’s makeshift right-back.

45 min +5: Bardakcı drives the ball into the box. Ekitike hoicks it away. Galatasaray want a penalty, though …

45 min +4: … but then Osimhen barrels down the left and cuts back for Singo, whose shot squirts out for a goal kick. Liverpool try to play out from the back, and Gravenberch gifts the ball to Osimhen, who advances towards the box. Gravenberch trips him from behind, and that’s a free kick inside the D. Gravenberch is booked. No chance of a red card, as Osimhen was surrounded. But this is a big moment now for Liverpool. They have to survive this last act of the half.

45 min +2: All a bit scrappy as the half fizzles out.

45 min: There will be three additional first-half minutes.

44 min: Singo buys a soft free kick off Kerkez down the Galatasaray right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Liverpool box. Gundogan swings the ball in, but that’s easy pickings for Alisson.

42 min: Akgün has a chance to release Yilmaz down the middle, but seriously overcooks the pass. As Alisson claims it, Yilmaz offers Akgün some beneficial advice.

40 min: Torreira high-kicks Jones and this is getting a bit spiky now. Another free kick for Kerkez out on the left. This time he sends it straight into the box … and the flag immediately goes up for some overly aggressive Liverpool pushing. Free kick. Pressure off.

38 min: A break in play so Jones can get the bloody nose Lemina’s just given him patched up. Konate needs some treatment as well, having been hit upside the head earlier in the move. Both are fixed and will be OK to continue.

36 min: Jones tries to burst into space down the middle and is crudely checked by Lemina, who goes into the book. The Gala midfielder very fortunate he only copped for a ticking-off upon bringing down Gravenberch earlier. But he’s on the disciplinary tightrope now.

34 min: Wirtz finds himself in a pocket of space and time just outside the Cimbom D. He shoots! He clanks the ball into the nearest defender! It’s just not happening for Wirtz in a Liverpool shirt. Not yet. It’ll surely come.

33 min: Konate heads egregiously wide left from a couple of yards out. He should have scored. Then Galatasaray break through Osimhen down the right. Osimhen tries to float a chip over Alisson from distance, but the keeper gets back just in time to claim. The linesman puts his flag up for offside, but that was closer than he thought. Had Osimhen found the net, VAR would have had to get the old rulers out.

32 min: Gakpo chips a cross from the left towards Frimpong, who wins a header at the far post and cushions the ball down for his good friend Wirtz. Wirtz swivels, then digs out an effort that’s heading into the top right. Cakir claws it around the post, and from the resulting corner, there’s a meleé in the six-yard box. Neither Kerkez nor Ekitike can poke home. The ball’s deflected out for another corner, from which …

30 min: Osimhen gallops down the right and pings in a low cross that Konate has to hook out for a corner under pressure from Yilmaz. From the resulting set piece, Sanchez tries his luck with an overhead kick from the middle of a crowded box. Full marks for effort, if nothing else. But once again, Liverpool do not look 100 percent assured at the back.

28 min: Wirtz tries a Gravenberchesque spin in midfield and is easily dispossessed by a combination of Sanchez and Torreira. But with the hosts flooding forward, the referee awards Wirtz a generous free kick. Liverpool’s big signing still not up to speed.

26 min: Ekitike sends Gakpo striding into space with a cool flick down the left flank. Gakpo drifts infield and has the option of playing Wirtz clear, but hesitates and that particular opportunity is gone. The ball’s shifted right for Frimpong, who can’t find anyone with a low cross. Liverpool look good going forward, but the final-third confidence isn’t quite there.

24 min: Kerkez pulls the ball back instead of delivering the free kick into the box, and play’s shifted to the right, from where Szoboszlai crosses. As the aerial ball floats in, Konate is penalised for shoving an opponent to the ground. What a waste.

23 min: Gakpo sashays his way infield from the left, cutely chopping his way past a couple of players before being clipped by Torreira. The referee thinks about it for a while, then awards a free kick in a dangerous position. Kerkez to take.

22 min: Liverpool continue to play it patiently around the back. The home fans continue to whistle and jeer. Pantomime season soon!

20 min: There were 23 seconds between Sanchez’s off-the-line clearance from Gravenberch’s shot, and the award of the penalty.

18 min: That’s a wretched start for Szoboszlai, who has been left for dust twice already by Yilmaz, and given away a penalty kick. Galatasaray causing him problems where Arsenal could not.

12 min: Gravenberch looks to spin Lemina and is wrestled down by the Galatasaray midfielder. Had it been later in the match, Lemina’s surely getting booked, but the referee stops short of that, simply dealing out a lecture.

10 min: Liverpool seem more than happy to draw the whistles. Some patient possession at the back irritates the crowd some more. Then Jones has the opportunity to release Ekitiké down the middle, but misplaces the pass. Ekitiké waves his appreciation for the intent, nonetheless.

8 min: Gakpo crosses from the left. Ekitiké can’t get his header on target. Meanwhile Richard Hirst writes: “The highlight of Buruk’s goal was seeing Fulham legend (he scored in a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford, so he qualifies) Junichi Inamoto flitting across the screen. Loved him.”

Related: Man Utd 1 - 3 Fulham

7 min: Frimpong has been super busy down the right. Now he crosses hoping again to find Ekitiké, but Sanchez hacks clear from his six-yard box. A lot of whistling from the home support as the visitors enjoy a bit of possession in the Gala half.

5 min: Liverpool go up the other end and win another corner, Frimpong nearly finding Ekitiké from the right. Szoboszlai slaps the corner into the first man. We could easily have had a couple of goals already.

3 min: Yilmaz tears past Szoboszlai down the inside-left channel with such ease! He enters the box ahead of everyone else and waits for Alisson to commit himself. The keeper spreads himself big to block out for a corner. What a save! Nothing comes of the resulting set piece. But that was nearly the fastest of starts for Galatasaray.

2 min: Konate wins a header at the near post, but can’t direct it goalwards. The ball clanks harmlessly wide.

1 min: Liverpool have stationed Szoboszlai at right back, with Frimpong up in Salah’s usual position … and the latter wins a corner after 49 seconds. The former to take.

Liverpool huddle, the Gala fans whistle their displeasure, and then the visitors get the ball rolling. Roar! Growl! Bedlam!

The teams are out! And it’s not exactly earth-shattering news to tell you that there’s a planet-bothering noise being made at the Ali Sami Yen. What an atmosphere! Galatasaray are wearing their red-and-yellow parçalı (segmented) shirts. Liverpool are in bottle green, a colour that will give fans of a certain generation guaranteed ice-cold pulses down the spine should they visualise three thick white stripes creeping over the right shoulder. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

Jeremie Frimpong, the man stepping into Mohamed Salah’s shoes this evening, talks to Amazon. “It’s my first time over here … the atmosphere looks crazy … [Galatasaray] are a great team … we come here to win … we don’t want to lose … we want to put on a good performance … everybody feels like we have to perform … football is my happy place.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot turns up for a chat with Amazon, just about making himself heard over a PA system cranking out banger after banger. “It’s always special to come into a stadium where the fans are already there … these are the stadiums you want to play in … though I’m not playing it’s still nice to be part of it!”

Of the spectacular firework show put on by fans outside Liverpool’s digs last night: “Maybe I was in the back of the hotel but I didn’t hear it … or I slept really well!”

Then onto his team selection: “Jeremie [Frimpong] is not playing as a full-back, he is playing on the right wing … we have many games to play in a few days … there is another big game coming up [in the Premier League at Chelsea] … in many of our games, players have impacted the games coming off the bench … Mo scored three coming off the bench against Rangers … and I know who was the manager of Rangers back then, my current assistant Gio [van Bronckhorst] … so I know about this already!”

As for his side’s defensive issues: “Most of the reasons we conceded chances were only partly to do with our defence … it’s not picking up second balls … conceding chances from set pieces … losing balls in positions when you shouldn’t lose it … it’s just as much the midfield and the front three … not aggressive in second balls, duels, set-pieces.”

Slot also makes a long defence of his team’s current struggle with consistency of form, pointing out the big number of new signings who need to adapt, the players he has lost, and the amount of pre-season training missed by the likes of Alexander Isak, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley, among others. He caveats all of that by pointing out that Liverpool have so far lost only one game.

Related: Rangers 1-7 Liverpool: Champions League – as it happened

Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk – who scored a pearler for the club in that aforementioned 3-2 win in 2006 – talks to Amazon Prime. First up, with Liverpool in town, he’s asked about a man with a foot in both camps, Graeme Souness, who you may remember doing this after the 1996 Turkish Cup final, which had been played on Gala’s Istanbul rival Fenerbahçe’s turf …

“He’s a legend … it was a golden goal in extra time … he did an amazing thing with the flag … it was very dangerous … he is one of the most important coaches in Galatastaray history … I like him very much as a coach and a person!”

Then on Buruk’s famous goal against Liverpool …

“I scored an amazing goal … by chance I shot outside the box from a corner kick … always Galatasaray has good results against Liverpool and I hope they will today again.”

And finally tonight’s team, led up front by Victor Osimhen. “First time after his injury, he played ten minutes of the Turkish league game … today he will start … he is very important for us … also Mauro Icardi is very important for us … I have two big strikers but very different types … I will start with Osimhen but continue with Mauro.”

Galatasaray lost their opening Champions League fixture 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt; Liverpool won theirs 3-2 at home to Atletico Madrid. On the other hand, Cimbom have won all seven of their Turkish Super Lig fixtures so far, while Liverpool have just lost their first Premier League game of the season, snapping a run of five wins, at Crystal Palace. And then Galatasaray have lost only three of their last 18 home European games, winning ten and drawing five, while Liverpool have won 13 of their last 14 Champions League group/league matches. So depending on which way you turn, there’s a stat that’ll make a good case for either team winning tonight. Something’s got to give. Draw?