Liverpool 4-0 Galatasaray: Match Report, Player Ratings & Brighton Preview | OneFootball

Liverpool’s best performance of the season saw them thump Galatasaray 4-0 with goals coming from Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohammed Salah.

With Liverpool fans occupying the banned Galatasaray away section, Anfield was electric in pushing the team forward, and that energy was reflected in the team’s performance.

It was a dominant attacking display, playing positive and forward football with little threat of conceding, something we haven’t felt many times this season.

ANFIELD ERUPTS AS LIVERPOOL DOMINATE GALATASARAY!

With this season’s most positive result, here are the match ratings for the most entertaining game of the season…

Alisson Becker – 7

Liverpool’s number one had very little to do, not needing to face a big chance and didn’t need to make any real saves. Alisson had a brilliant view of the game, and was never called upon to make any saves, a seven seems fair.

Jeremie Frimpong – 7

A very good attacking display from Frimpong saw him contribute and link up the attack very well. A source of constant energy gave Salah a good outlet to link up with and a headache for the Galatasaray defence. His cross that was turned in by Galatasaray defender Wilfried Singo was offside, but reflected the joy and space he had to create danger on the right-hand side.

Ibrahima Konate – 8

A very comfortable defensive display. I don’t remember him losing an aerial duel at the back. With Galatasaray’s keeper Ugurcan Cekir having poor distribution that only seemed to go long, the Frenchman was able to sweep up from the back alongside Virgil Van Dijk.

Virgil Van Dijk – 8

Very similar to Konate, he was brilliant in the air and had no real trouble containing Victor Osimhen and Mauro Icardi. Was in cruise control and didn’t need to get out of second gear.

Milos Kerkez – 8

He delivered the energy we needed right from the start. Very early on made a brilliant tackle that got the crowd going, and from then on, his energy became too much for Galatasaray, making three interceptions and having a 94% passing success rate. Slot did a brilliant job in seeing him as the best fit for the game, as he was everything fans have been expecting from this season.

Ryan Gravenberch – 9

Tactically, Slot got it right with Gravenberch yesterday. His average position was sitting in front of Van Dijk and Konate, where he plays best to be the glue of the team. Not only did it allow both Frimpong and Kerkez to push up the pitch, but it also gave him more time on the ball. He was able to drop into centre back positions to receive the ball and progress forwards. Making only 17% of his passes backwards, this role of Gravenberch being deep really suited him, and it is something we haven’t seen enough of this season, as it brings out the best in the Dutchman.

Alexis Mac Allister – 7

I didn’t think Mac Allister made headlines with his performance, but he didn’t need to. He kept it ticking in the midfield, maintaining the tempo in the middle whilst Liverpool had most of the possession. He also created a lot of chances, getting an assist and making four key passes in the process. Very solid performance from the World Cup winner, who hasn’t been at his best often this season.

Dominik Szoboszlai – 10

Szoboszlai has been by far Liverpool’s best player this season. The heartbeat of the squad. A deserved player of the match performance, with him getting the first goal to level the tie back up in the first half. Most of the possession and attacks went through him, which is why the team created so much and won so emphatically. Winning fouls and having the most touches on the ball out of any player on the pitch is a reflection of why the Hungarian is crucial to the team if they are to get any success this season.

Florian Wirtz – 9

Creating the most chances (8) of any Liverpool player in a Champions League fixture in the past ten years reflects the ceiling that he has. The perfect reason as to why he deserves a nine rating. I would’ve given him a ten, but he had opportunities to shoot that he was hesitant to take, and that was the only thing that didn’t cap off a perfect performance. He and Szoboszlai are running the show in attack made things very promising going forward.

Mohammed Salah – 8

A fantastic trademark Salah goal that nestled in the left side netting perfectly made up for the fact that he could’ve had at least a hat trick. A missed penalty and a gift from the back pass by the Galatasaray defence were chances you’d expect a player of his class to take. However, being in those positions is encouraging to take forward as the big chances are something Salah has sometimes lacked enough of this season. A well-taken goal and lots of opportunities created are very good to see.

Hugo Ekitike – 8

Scored the goal to take the Reds into the lead on aggregate, and overall started a lot of attacks. On the counter, Ekitike was driving the ball forward constantly and was able to have a lot of shots too. A constant threat and links the play very well, he is performing incredibly well and has become the signing of the season so far.

Curtis Jones – 8

Came on and his first action was a tackle and a beautiful turn up on the right-hand side. It became a training game with 20 minutes to go, and so he wasn’t called into too much action by the end of it.

Cody Gakpo – 7

Limited action due to the game being done and dusted, but added some energy to the attacks by the end, which allowed the team to maintain possession high up.

Subs – Federico Chiesa, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha – 7

The three only had five minutes on the pitch, so not much action in that time. I found it interesting how Nyoni took up Gravenberch’s role, meaning we may see him become an understudy of Gravenberch for the future.

Arne Slot – 9

Tactically, his best game since the Spurs clash last season. Everything came off today, and the football was the most entertaining it has been in a long time. Making Gravenberch sit in and cover the full-backs was brilliant, and choosing to start Wirtz in Gakpo’s place allowed more creativity in attack. Not much to fault from that game.

Szoboszlai was SENSATIONAL!

The Reds will look to take that positive momentum into the weekend as they travel to the south coast for a 12:30 kick-off on Saturday against Brighton.

The last outing against the Seagulls came in the FA Cup at home as the Reds ran out 3-0 winners with Dominik Szoboszlai running the show, getting the second goal, which was sandwiched by a box-crashing Curtis Jones goal and a Mohammed Salah penalty.

Liverpool won the previous meeting on top of that as well, winning at home 2-0 in the league in December, and winning away from home 3-2 in the Carabao Cup in 2024.

Hugo Ekitike netted a brace in a game in which Liverpool also felt very comfortable. Goals are plentiful in these fixtures, with Liverpool winning five of the last seven, drawing one and losing one, whilst every game has had two goals or more in the last twelve meetings between the sides.

Liverpool will be coming off the back of the biggest win of the season, which is a perfect bounce back from one loss and one draw in the last three games against bottom-of-the-table Wolves and the worst side in the league (based on form) in Spurs.

Whilst Liverpool have struggled in the league, Brighton have had more success. Fabian Hürzeler’s side have won three of the last four games, with their only loss being a narrow defeat to Arsenal. It’s a run of results that came from a winless run of seven games, drawing twice and losing five. Mo Salah finds Brighton to be one of his best opponents, scoring 11 goals in 17 games, the most out of any player who’s featured in this fixture, and the fourth most against any team he’s faced in the Premier League.

After a well-taken goal in yesterday’s fixture, Salah will be in good form to make it 12 against the side who are 12th in the league.

A win for the Reds can leapfrog them above Aston Villa into fourth place, whilst a loss not only gives Chelsea a chance to put us down into sixth, but also gives Brighton a chance to climb above Everton to eighth in the table if results go their way.

With Liverpool being on such a buzz from that huge win in the Champions League, taking that momentum to get three points in the league is crucial, and I think they will deliver on that. Before this season, the last four games between the sides ended with both teams scoring and there being a goal separating the sides, so I think a narrow 2-1 win for the Reds will be the final score.