Galatasaray star who rejected Brendan Rodgers in 2014 can haunt Liverpool in Champions League
Liverpool have the chance to put their Premier League defeat to Crystal Palace behind them with a game against Galatasaray in the Champions League to prepare for.
Arne Slot has a lot of work to do with his starting lineup after Wayne Rooney said Florian Wirtz upsets Liverpool’s balance, while concerns persist over the major drop-off in Mohamed Salah’s form.
Ibrahima Konate is facing an Anfield exit amid his poor form, too. He has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid amid the club’s failure to extend his contract which is set to expire in nine months.
Chiesa has replaced Leoni in Liverpool’s Champions League squad, and so he will get his first taste of Champions League football this season when the Reds make the trip to Turkey.
Liverpool almost signed Mauro Icardi in 2016, before he rejected them
Liverpool were heavily linked with a move to sign Mauro Icardi, but the Argentine forward rejected Brendan Rodgers, who was forced to sign Mario Balotelli instead. As many fans might remember, the Italian striker scored just four goals for the Reds in two years.
Speaking at the time, Icardi revealed that he had no intentions of joining Liverpool.
He told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, as relayed by Sky Sports: “On the renewal, I don’t know anything yet. But I chose Inter, and I want to stay here.
“I want to stay because here we have a desire to build something. Because Milan is a great city, because the President [Erik Thohir] has very clear ideas and because… because I want to stay here!
“This is a new team, and a young one. Winning will take time, but that’s what we all want to do.”
Icardi spent seven years with Inter Milan, scoring 124 goals and assisting 29. Quite a bit better than Balotelli and Ricky Lambert managed for Liverpool and Rodgers.
Now at Galatasaray, Icardi could be a major threat against Liverpool. The 32-year-old has five goals in six games in the Super Lig and will be keen to dent the Reds’ Champions League aspirations.
Liverpool’s record in Turkey is cause for major concern
Liverpool need a win and a good performance to regain some of the confidence they lost in the 2-1 defeat to Palace.
It couldn’t be a more challenging fixture on paper, given that Liverpool have only ever won a single match away to a Turkish side.
In fact, they haven’t done it since beating Trabzonspor in 2010 in a Europa League play-off match where they narrowly won 2-1. Of course, Liverpool return to Turkey with a drastically better team than the 2015 side that lost 1-0 to Besiktas.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 October 1976 | Trabzonspor | 0-1 (Loss) | European Cup |
| 22 February 2002 | Galatasaray | 1-1 (draw) | Champions League Group Stage |
| 5 December 2006 | Galatasaray | 2-3 (Loss) | Champions League Group Stage |
| 24 October 2007 | Beşiktaş | 1-2 (Loss) | Champions League Group Stage |
| 26 August 2010 | Trabzonspor | 2-1 (Win) | Europa League Play-off |
| 26 February 2015 | Beşiktaş | 0-1 (Loss) | Europa League Round of 32 |
| September 29, 2025 | Galatasaray | TBD | Champions League Group Stage |
A win over Galatasaray on Tuesday (30 September) would make it two wins from two in Europe this season, but Arne Slot will be hoping for a more relaxed affair than the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the opening Champions League match of the season.