There were five bookings handed out, including four to Liverpool, in Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 first leg at Galatasaray
Liverpool have given themselves work to do to keep their Champions League hopes alive after losing their round of 16 first-leg tie 1-0 at Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Mario Lemina’s seventh-minute header proved the difference between the sides in Istanbul going into next Wednesday’s (March 18) second leg at Anfield (8pm kick-off).
It proved a good night for Galatasaray, who celebrated beating the defending Premier League champions for the second time this season after they also ran out 1-0 winners at the same venue in the league phase back in September.
The Super Lig title holders will be encouraged by the fact that Liverpool have not won a knockout tie in front of their own supporters since April 2022.
However, Galatasaray will make the trip to Merseyside without any travelling supporters after they were banned by UEFA, who found fans of the Turkish giants had thrown objects and lit fireworks during the knockout phase play-off tie against Juventus in Turin on February 25.
And on the pitch Okan Buruk’s side will also have to do without one of their key players, former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Davinson Sanchez, after he was booked in injury-time for a foul on Hugo Ekitike in Tuesday’s first leg.
It was Sanchez’s third caution of this season’s competition and, with Champions League rules dictating any player who receives three yellow cards – or any subsequent odd number of bookings – from the league stage onwards is banned for the next game, he will sit out the second leg.
The Reds will have no players ruled out through suspension. However, bookings for captain Virgil van Dijk and fellow Dutchman Ryan Gravenberch on Tuesday mean they join Curtis Jones on walking a disciplinary tightrope.
All three players now have two cautions to their name in the Champions League and should they receive another in the second leg against Galatasaray, they would miss the first leg of a quarter-final showdown with either Chelsea or holders Paris Saint-Germain.
An amnesty only arrives on completion of the quarter-finals when all yellow card totals expire.
Galatasaray have six currently fit and available players with two bookings to their names. Goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, defenders Ismail Jackobs and Abdulkerim Bardakci and forwards Roland Sallai and Victor Osimhen have all been cautioned twice in the competition this season, while January loan signing Noa Lang was booked twice for parent club Napoli.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was adamant his side were denied a penalty when a potential equaliser was chalked off on Tuesday.
The Reds thought they had equalised on 71 minutes when the ball was bundled in from a Dominik Szoboszlai corner only for a handball by Ibrahima Konate to be spotted after a lengthy VAR check.
Slot, though, believes a penalty should have been awarded for a foul on Virgil van Dijk and suggested referee Jesus Gil Manzano was affected by the loud atmosphere.
“In the Premier League there is much more allowed than in the Champions League,” he said. “That’s why I was so surprised it wasn’t a penalty.
“In all the other incidents where he thought he saw something when we made a foul and was so fast to blow his whistle and give Galatasaray a free-kick.
“Then it was really really, really surprising the same referee in another incident when they make the foul says he is going to accept this completely. But if you look overall at the 90 minutes don’t think I can be surprise by that decision.
“Every free-kick and corner kick we took, even if we just looked at a Galatasaray player the referee already gave a free-kick for Galatasaray.
“If you then look at how much they pulled Virgil’s shirt before the ball hit Ibou’s arm, then it’s safe to say we weren’t the only ones impressed by the atmosphere here today.”
