Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Istanbul was meant to be the night where Arne Slot’s men stood up and showed Europe that the weekend defeat to Crystal Palace was just a stumble.
Instead, it became another painful reminder that even champions can look lost, fragile, and broken when pressure builds and confidence slips away. In the heat and noise of RAMS Park, Liverpool were undone by Galatasaray’s belief, by Victor Osimhen’s calm penalty, and by their own mistakes that made every minute feel heavier than the one before. For the second time in four days, Liverpool players walked off the pitch with their heads down, wondering how a team that was meant to dominate was suddenly fighting shadows and losing battles everywhere.
It was never going to be an easy night. Istanbul carries memories for Liverpool, some glorious and some dark, but history doesn’t step on the pitch to defend, to pass, or to finish chances. Slot had warned before the game that Galatasaray would make life uncomfortable, that the crowd would roar and that small mistakes could turn into big punishments. He wasn’t wrong. The atmosphere was like fire from the first whistle, the Turkish champions pressing with energy, the stands shaking with every tackle, every Liverpool pass being met with whistles and jeers. Liverpool needed calm heads, but what they showed was nerves, and by half time they were already chasing the game.
Victor Osimhen stood at the penalty spot in the first half, the whole stadium holding its breath. It had come from chaos, from Dominik Szoboszlai’s flailing arm catching the ball inside the box, a moment that summed up Liverpool’s shaky start. Osimhen didn’t blink. He sent the ball into the net with power, leaving Alisson Becker rooted. One-nil to Galatasaray, and for Liverpool the nightmare began to grow.
Alisson, as so often, was the man keeping Liverpool alive. He had already made a brilliant one-on-one stop against Baris Alper Yilmaz, throwing himself in front of danger. But even heroes have limits, and when another clash with Osimhen came, this time the keeper went down injured. His face told the story: frustration, anger, and pain. Another injury, another problem for a player whose body seems to betray him too often. He tried to continue but eventually had to leave the pitch in the second half, replaced by Giorgi Mamardashvili. Slot’s plans, already under fire, were now being ripped apart by relity.
It wasn’t just Alisson. Hugo Ekitike, who had shown flashes of energy, pulling wide, trying runs, creating a moment where he should have scored but hesitated, also went down clutching his muscle. The sight of him limping off after stretching for a poor Szoboszlai pass only deepened the gloom. Liverpool, already without rhythm, were now without two players who had started the night with hope.
And yet the real story of the night was not just about injuries. It was about performances that never reached the level required for the Champions League. Szoboszlai himself, shifted to right-back again, looked uncomfortable. He lost Yilmaz for an early chance, he wasted set pieces, and then his clumsy defending gifted Galatasaray the penalty. Later, when moved back into midfield, he was the one who played the ball that forced Ekitike to stretch and collapse. Everything he touched seemed to go wrong. His rating of 4/10 felt almost generous for a player who was supposed to be one of Liverpool’s leaders.
