The Reds Dominate in Turnaround: Liverpool vs Galatasaray Round of 16 Game 2 Recap
- therookiereporters
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
Is the third time the charm, or are the quarter-finals going to slip? In the return game of their 1-0 loss last week, Liverpool hosted Galatasaray in Anfield to determine who’s gonna face PSG in the UCL quarter-finals.
The Reds and the Lions are facing each other for the 7th time in the Champions League on their way to the latter stages. Despite having the statistical advantage over Liverpool, Gala’s away game record on British soil isn’t good. In the last 14 away games in England, Galatasaray has only one victory, which is against Manchester United in the 2023/2024 season. As if it’s not hard enough to play in one of the most challenging atmospheres in Europe, Galatasaray will be without its fans as well. However, it’s not changing the fact that they’re coming to Anfield with a goal in front and the 5-match winning form they have across all competitions. Meanwhile, after losing the first game, Liverpool lost 2 points in the league against Tottenham at home. Slot’s men weren’t effective enough on attack last week, and they’ll need their full shot power at home to turn the tie around. Anfield on a European night is a different place to be, and surviving the atmosphere isn’t something that even the best of Europe can’t easily achieve. Okan Buruk’s Galatasaray have already shown weaknesses in Turin last time, so they will need to put something extra on the table to prevent a comeback. Once again, there will be lots of weight on Ugurcan Cakir’s and Victor Osimhen’s shoulders, as the Reds will search for a turnaround. Without further ado, let’s have a look at the starting eleven:
Liverpool XI: Alisson - Frimpong - Konaté - Van Dijk(c) - Kerkez - Szoboszlai - Gravenberch - Mac Allister - Salah - Wirtz - Ekitiké
Galatasaray XI: Cakir - Boey - Singo - Bardakci (c) - Jakobs - Torreira - Lemina - Sallai - Sara - B.A. Yilmaz - Osimhen
Compared to last week, Alisson Becker has returned to the goal for Liverpool, and Frimpong starts in the right-back position instead of Joe Gomez. And in the Lions, Davinson Sanchez misses this game due to yellow cards, Sacha Boey starts at right-back instead, and Roland Sallai replaces Noa Lang on the right wing.
First Half
The game starts a bit tense with consecutive fouls from Liverpool players. In one of those foul positions, Victor Osimhen gets injured in his arm, which affects his and his team’s play. Liverpool puts the pressure early on, as the Lions struggle to get the ball out of their own half. In the 26th minute from the corner, Mac Allister sent the ball towards an unmarked Dominic Szoboszlai, who sprinted from outside of the box and put the ball in the bottom left corner. Despite Gala players’ complaints about a possible foul in the box, the goal is awarded, and the Reds equalise the tie already. A few minutes later, the Hungarian midfielder tries his luck from long range this time, but Cakir stretches to make the save. Mac Allister and Wirtz also get their chances to put Liverpool in front, but they can’t get the ball past the crossbar or the defenders.
At the added time of the half, Jakobs, one of the stars of the first match, acts late to clear the ball and trips down Szoboszlai on the edge of the Gala box. Liverpool gets a penalty, and Salah steps up as usual. However, Ugurcan Cakir saves the penalty with his feet and prevents the Reds from extending the lead further. The Turkish international adds a double save to his tally, as he fends off Salah and Wirtz once again to keep Galatasaray’s hopes alive. In the meantime, Gala finds their first shot on goal as well, but it’s just an ineffective header by Sallai, which gives no trouble to Alisson Becker. And with that, the first half ends with 1-0 in favour of Liverpool. The Reds controlled the game with superior possession, and yet, they struggled to make enough impact on attack. Corners seemed to be their most efficient way of attacking, and in one of those well-organised corners, they found the equaliser.
Galatasaray keeps panicking in their own half and constantly fails to clear the ball with errors and mounting pressure from Liverpool. The injured Osimhen’s absence from the game was obvious, as Galatasaray couldn’t do much in terms of attacking and regaining possession. It showed how much the Lions’ gameplay depends on a single key player; they need their pressing Nigerian striker, it’s chaos without him. Since they’re having trouble against Liverpool in many aspects of the game, their hopes rest on Ugurcan Cakir’s goalkeeping performance even more in the second half.
(Image credits to fanatik.com.tr)
Second Half
As expected, Galatasaray begins the second half by substituting Osimhen off, and Lang replaces him on the pitch. Sane is also subbed in for Sacha Boey. With the whistle blown, Liverpool starts attacking again to extend their lead. Despite being able to withstand the first few attempts, Ekitiké finally breaks the resistance in the 51st minute. Salah gets the ball from Mac Allister and plays a first-time pass to the box. There scores Hugo Ekitiké the second goal of the game, and the Reds take the lead in the tie. Only 2 minutes later, Wirtz serves the ball for Salah to shoot this time, but Cakir denies him once again. However, Gravenberch follows the rebound to score a tap-in, as Liverpool find 2 goals in 3 minutes.
Another 3 minutes later, Wilfried Singo puts Frimpong’s cross into his own net, but the goal gets ruled out due to offside. As the Reds kept running rampant on Galatasaray, in the 62nd minute, Mo Salah scored a beautiful goal from outside of the box, after some quick passing with Florian Wirtz. This goal not only gives Liverpool a comfortable 3-goal lead in the tie but also marks Mo Salah as the first African player to reach 50 goals in the Champions League. 6 minutes later, the Salah-Mac Allister-Ekitiké trio tries to extend the lead even further, but despite the effort, they can’t get the ball past the crossbar or the keeper. Around the 80th minute, things go even worse for Galatasaray, as Noa Lang strangely injures himself and is taken off on a stretcher. In a last-minute corner, Mac Allister puts the ball once again into the Gala net, but the goal gets disallowed once again due to a foul by Virgil van Dijk. So, the final whistle blows, and Liverpool beats Galatasaray 4-1 on aggregate.
Liverpool needed to play dominant attacking football and had to become more clinical in front, unlike last week. They managed to do that as expected and punched their ticket to the quarter-finals. 62% overall ball possession speaks for itself in terms of a dominant display. Anfield once again proved itself as a terrifying venue for the visitors and kept the team alive and motivated. Szoboszlai is chosen the Man of the Match for the first goal and his dominant presence in the midfield. Mac Allister and Wirtz also played their parts, both providing an assist. And of course, the Egyptian King of Liverpool came alive in the second half, also providing an assist and scoring a wonderful goal. On the Gala side, apart from the unlucky injuries, their encouraging football at their home game was nowhere to be found in the second leg.
The stars of the first game, Lemina and Torreira, let the Liverpool midfield roam free on their half and build up the killing blows in the second half. Without Osimhen’s and Sánchez’s presence, the Lions showed their true colours in another European away game. They really made it look like they got away in Turin, but they couldn’t escape the Anfield Road. There isn’t anything good to talk about Galatasaray other than the goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir. Despite the 4 goals he conceded, the Turkish international pulled off many great saves that included one-on-ones, close-range shots and even a penalty at the end of the first half, followed by a double save. If Türkiye ends up going to the World Cup this summer, I don’t think that there’s any doubt about Cakir being the first-choice goalkeeper. After the match, Galatasaray revealed that Victor Osimhen broke his forearm in the collision with Konaté, and Noa Lang had a serious cut on his thumb. We’re sending our best wishes to both players for a speedy recovery!
Long story short, Liverpool put in a faultless performance against Galatasaray and pulled off the comeback. Their Champions League campaign turns its route towards France this time, as the Reds will face PSG in the quarter-finals of the competition. In another match-up that reeks of revenge for Liverpool, we’ll see if the Reds will manage to advance to the next stage this time.
Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2026
