By our reporter 30.9.2025
Galatasaray Tuesday night held on to Victor Osimhen’s 16-minute penalty strike to beat Liverpool in their Champions League tie at the Rams Park in Istanbul.
Despite dominating the match and having good scoring chances, Liverpool fired blanks and lost two games in a row in all competition.
Galatasaray, once they had their goal; defended deep as Liverpool chased the game. Osimhen broke in behind Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate on occasions, with two good chances, but couldn’t add to his goal tally, but he can remain proud to be the first Nigerian player to score 10 goals in the Champions League.
Liverpool were denied a penalty late on by VAR as Konate went down in the area under a high challenge from Wilfried Singo as the pair went for a bouncing ball, but the referee’s initial on-field decision was overturned, with the right-back getting a toe on the ball.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot lamented the loss: “Again, disappointed. For me, this was a different performance on and off the ball [than Crystal Palace]. First half we played quite well and had a big chance to go 1-0 up.
“It is difficult to compare this situation to before. We are sometimes a bit out-smarted in situations like this and I cannot blame Dominik Szoboszlai for the situation. They make a 20% penalty a 100% penalty, which is very smart from them.
“We are not so far [off the level shown last season]. This is sometimes what the schedule can bring, Galatasaray is not a simple game. We now play Chelsea away, a difficult game.”
Victor Osimhen...