Arne Slot was left seething as Galatasaray did something ‘very smart’ in win over Liverpool | OneFootball

Arne Slot was left to bemoan a game-changing moment from Galatasaray in their win over Liverpool that he described as ‘very smart’.

The only goal of the match on Tuesday night came from a 16th-minute penalty that Victor Osimhen crashed past Alisson Becker, although the awarding of the spot kick itself was diplomatically described as ‘soft‘ by James Pearce.

Dominik Szoboszlai appeared to catch Baris Alper Yilmaz at neck height with a stray arm, but the contact was minimal and the theatrics from the Turkish winger were shameful, yet they conned Clement Turpin into giving a foul.

Slot bemoans Galatasaray gamesmanship

Through gritted teeth, Slot suggested after the match that Galatasaray were rewarded for being more streetwise than Liverpool, particularly over the penalty decision, while he also bemoaned the stop-start nature of a second half which was tough to watch.

The Reds boss told Prime Video Sport (via BBC Sport): “We are sometimes a bit outsmarted 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.”

He added: “I saw a lot of things in the first half, but the second half was much less. I don’t think in the second half there was a lot of playing time; their striker was on the floor four or five times. It was difficult to get momentum in the game.”

Image via TNT Sports

A lot for Slot to ponder on the way back from Istanbul

Slot will realise that, even though they had some occasional chances, Liverpool simply didn’t do enough to truly threaten a way back from 1-0 down to salvage a result in Istanbul last night, and another flat performance (and two new injuries) will leave him hugely concerned.

However, he’s entitled to feel disgruntled with the gamesmanship from Galatasaray, not least from Yilmaz’s Oscar-worthy antics for the penalty decision, and the home side succeeded in turning the second half into a festival of interruptions.

The Reds were awarded a spot kick of their own just before the 90-minute mark, but replays showed that Wilfried Singo had played the ball first before catching Ibrahima Konate, and Turpin overturned his original decision after watching back the incident on the pitchside VAR monitor.

While Slot’s annoyance over some of the officiating is understandable, he’ll also know that – a minute before Osimhen netted from 12 yards – Hugo Ekitike ought to have put Liverpool ahead at the other end, with that miss ultimately proving costly for the Merseysiders.

LFC’s latest visit to Istanbul isn’t one to remember with fondness, but they’ll have to channel their disappointment into added motivation to put things right against Chelsea on Saturday, by which stage they could find themselves knocked off the top of the Premier League.