After league defeat, Liverpool eye rematch with Galatasaray | OneFootball

Liverpool coach Arne Slot commented on the clash against Galatasaray in the Champions League. After a 1-0 defeat in the league phase, the Reds are looking to secure a win in Turkey.

“We faced them, so we already knew them very well. After playing against them, we got to know them even better. And now, before facing them again, you start watching even more games. I have a lot of respect for Galatasaray, for their coach,” he said.

“No, there isn’t a team you’d prefer to face in the round of 16, because they’re all very good teams, including Galatasaray. We’ve already lost to them, so that shows how tough this game is for us. The good part now is that we play two matches. While in the group stage you only play away against Galatasaray, now we also have the chance to play in front of our own fans,” stated Arne Slot.

Pressure from the Galatasaray fans

With fans who are world-renowned for their passion for the club, Galatasaray enjoys the advantage of playing at home. Arne Slot said he had never heard boos so loud, and even the most experienced players were surprised.

“These fans here are very impressive, we noticed that when we played here. The good thing is that we’ve already experienced this once. That might be a positive thing. The Galatasaray players experience this every home game,” he commented.

“But for us it was new, when you have the ball, the whistling—if that’s the right word—is so loud. That was new for me and even for all my experienced players. So, the good thing is that we’ve already experienced it. But we’re not just playing against the fans, we’re also playing against 11 very good players who are a very strong team, managed by a very good coach,” the coach pointed out.

  See this photo on Instagram   A post shared by Galatasaray (@galatasaray)

Osimhen and dangerous counterattacks

The Liverpool coach also showed that he knows the opponent’s strengths and is concerned about Victor Osimhen. With nine goal involvements in Galatasaray’s seven matches in the competition, the Nigerian is one of the Turkish team’s standouts.

“I think Galatasaray has many weapons, but transition is definitely one of them. Obviously, one of the first you think of is Osimhen, who is also a great striker in the box, can score from crosses, can score in various ways, but is definitely also a big threat on the counterattack,” he said.

“But they have more than just Osimhen up front, three who are very fast. In the last game we played against them, Yilmaz was twice as fast for us because twice he was going towards the goalkeeper in the first half. Not always, even if you know what the team’s strength is, is it possible to prevent that from happening, and that’s the challenge for us tomorrow,” Slot concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.