Dutch manager, Arne Slot, was slammed with a lone goal defeat on his 100th game in charge as Liverpool head coach by Turkish Super Lig toppers, Galatasaray, in the Uefa Champions League 2025/26 round of 16 first leg match on Tuesday 10 March, 2026 at RAMS Park in the city of Istanbul, Turkey.
The victory means the Yellow-Reds have successfully established a one-goal advantage over the Premier League defending champions ahead of the second leg showdown at Anfield next week.
Slot conceded his 10th goal of the season from corners when Mario Lemina netted for the home side very early in the encounter.
Lemina, a former Southampton player, was well positioned to head home past Reds goalkeeper, Giorgi Mamardashvili, who was fielding in place of first choice Alisson Becker, who was out of action due to injury; the former Wolverhampton Wanderers man finely converted a header from Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen.
The goal was Lemina’s first of the season as it was enough to hand Galatasaray maximum points.
The Super Eagles star thought he had added the second for the hosts following a mistake by Ibrahima, however, his effort from close range was chalked off after Baris Alper Yilmaz was deemed to be in offside position in the build-up.
And, in the 70th minute, the Reds thought they had levelled after the ball was bundled over the line from a corner by Dominik Szobozslai, but, the goal was cancelled by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) following a lengthy check as the ball was ruled to have hit the arm of Konate twice.
Liverpool should have gone in front before Galatasaray found the back of the net, but, Florian Wirtz’ effort went narrowly wide, and, even after conceding, Liverpool recorded several chances to bring the game to parity.
In his post-defeat press conference, when asked about the disallowed goal, Liverpool manager, Slot, answered: “If it’s correct that the goal was disallowed, which is difficult to judge as I’ve heard different opinions from people, it’s not completely obvious but let’s say that decision is right.”
Slot continued: “In the Premier League there is much more allowed than in the Champions League.
“That’s why I was so surprised it wasn’t a penalty because in all the other incidents where he (the referee) thought he saw something when we made a foul and was so fast to blow his whistle and give Galatasaray a free-kick.”
